Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eight ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have given a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $37.25.

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Bank of America lowered shares of Virtu Financial from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $43.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $40.00 price target (up from $38.00) on shares of Virtu Financial in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Virtu Financial

In other Virtu Financial news, CEO Douglas A. Cifu sold 178,320 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.57, for a total transaction of $6,877,802.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 408,867 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,770,000.19. This trade represents a 30.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John Nixon sold 6,965 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.82, for a total transaction of $298,241.30. Following the sale, the director now owns 33,923 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,452,582.86. This represents a 17.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 362,846 shares of company stock worth $14,079,615. 47.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Virtu Financial

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 1.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,568,548 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $364,753,000 after acquiring an additional 165,396 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 28.2% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,375,783 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $227,488,000 after acquiring an additional 1,401,688 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 83.6% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,473,165 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $56,157,000 after acquiring an additional 670,774 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 48.2% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,448,866 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $51,696,000 after acquiring an additional 471,526 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 50.9% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,320,356 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $49,764,000 after acquiring an additional 445,586 shares during the period. 45.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Virtu Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VIRT opened at $42.18 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $38.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.20, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.68. Virtu Financial has a one year low of $21.55 and a one year high of $44.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 0.46.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.31. Virtu Financial had a net margin of 9.61% and a return on equity of 27.39%. The business had revenue of $497.14 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $444.23 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.76 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Virtu Financial will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Virtu Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.28%. Virtu Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.75%.

Virtu Financial Company Profile

Virtu Financial, Inc operates as a financial services company in the United States, Asia Pacific, Canada, EMEA, Ireland, and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Market Making and Execution Services. Its product includes offerings in execution, liquidity sourcing, analytics and broker-neutral, capital markets, and multi-dealer platforms in workflow technology.