Douglas A. Cifu Purchases 50,000 Shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) Stock

Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) CEO Douglas A. Cifu acquired 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $17.06 per share, for a total transaction of $853,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 442,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,553,400.30. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Virtu Financial Stock Up 6.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VIRT opened at $17.94 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.92 billion, a PE ratio of 13.19 and a beta of 0.24. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $18.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $18.28. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 12-month low of $16.26 and a 12-month high of $23.74.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.33 by ($0.04). Virtu Financial had a return on equity of 18.21% and a net margin of 6.53%. The company had revenue of $278.69 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $290.67 million. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 1.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Virtu Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.35%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 31st. Virtu Financial’s payout ratio is currently 70.59%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Virtu Financial

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp acquired a new position in Virtu Financial in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Virtu Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Allworth Financial LP grew its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 10,615.4% during the 1st quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,393 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 1,380 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its stake in Virtu Financial by 123.8% during the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,596 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 883 shares during the period. Finally, Quarry LP lifted its holdings in Virtu Financial by 236.4% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,581 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 1,111 shares during the last quarter. 46.02% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on VIRT. Citigroup upgraded Virtu Financial from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $20.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Virtu Financial in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Virtu Financial from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $20.00 to $19.00 in a report on Thursday, July 27th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $22.40.

Virtu Financial Company Profile

Virtu Financial, Inc, a financial services company in New York. The company operates through two segments, Market Making and Execution Services. Its product suite includes offerings in execution, liquidity sourcing, analytics and broker-neutral, and multi-dealer platforms in workflow technology. The company's solutions enable clients to trade on various venues across countries and in multiple asset classes, including global equities, ETFs, foreign exchange, futures, fixed income, cryptocurrencies, and other commodities.