Virtu Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VIRT) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Virtu Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VIRT) has received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have issued a hold recommendation, three have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $48.6667.

Several research analysts have commented on VIRT shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Virtu Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 30th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Virtu Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Virtu Financial in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $57.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Brett Fairclough sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.06, for a total transaction of $1,501,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 42,473 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,126,198.38. This represents a 41.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 46.76% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Rothschild Investment LLC increased its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 3,460.0% during the third quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 712 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 692 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 258.3% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 713 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 514 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 103.8% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 760 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 387 shares in the last quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 480.6% during the fourth quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC now owns 836 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 692 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 51.9% during the third quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 972 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 332 shares in the last quarter. 45.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Virtu Financial Stock Up 2.9%

Shares of VIRT opened at $60.38 on Thursday. Virtu Financial has a one year low of $31.55 and a one year high of $60.70. The company has a market cap of $9.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.48 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $51.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.81.

Virtu Financial (NYSE:VIRT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.24 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.66 by $0.58. Virtu Financial had a net margin of 14.17% and a return on equity of 51.63%. The business had revenue of $786.53 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $613.12 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.30 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 30.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Virtu Financial will post 5.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Virtu Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 1st were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 1st. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.6%. Virtu Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 15.89%.

About Virtu Financial

Virtu Financial, Inc is a technology-driven electronic trading firm and market maker that provides liquidity and price discovery across a wide range of financial instruments. Leveraging advanced analytics, high-performance computing and proprietary algorithms, Virtu operates in equities, fixed income, foreign exchange, commodities and derivative products. Its technology platform is designed to capture bid-ask spreads in real time, manage risk through automated controls and adapt to changing market conditions.

The company offers a suite of execution services and market-making solutions to institutional clients such as asset managers, banks, broker-dealers and hedge funds.