Analysts Set Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) Price Target at $21.00

Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the five analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $21.00.

VIRT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup raised shares of Virtu Financial from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $20.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 14th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 11th. StockNews.com raised shares of Virtu Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 3rd. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Virtu Financial from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $20.00 to $19.00 in a report on Thursday, July 27th.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Joseph Molluso purchased 15,000 shares of Virtu Financial stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 13th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $17.17 per share, for a total transaction of $257,550.00. Following the purchase, the chief operating officer now owns 358,160 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,149,607.20. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, COO Joseph Molluso purchased 15,000 shares of Virtu Financial stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 13th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $17.17 per share, for a total transaction of $257,550.00. Following the purchase, the chief operating officer now owns 358,160 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,149,607.20. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Douglas A. Cifu purchased 50,000 shares of Virtu Financial stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 13th. The stock was bought at an average price of $17.06 per share, for a total transaction of $853,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 442,755 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,553,400.30. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 44.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Virtu Financial

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Virtu Financial by 7.6% during the 3rd quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 8,347,311 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $144,158,000 after buying an additional 588,749 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in Virtu Financial by 7.5% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,834,008 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $91,363,000 after buying an additional 338,024 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in Virtu Financial by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,233,884 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $61,120,000 after buying an additional 199,963 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. boosted its position in Virtu Financial by 1,577.3% during the 1st quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 2,338,818 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $44,204,000 after buying an additional 2,199,380 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Virtu Financial by 59.7% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,164,023 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $40,272,000 after buying an additional 809,085 shares during the period. 46.02% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Virtu Financial Price Performance

NASDAQ:VIRT opened at $17.33 on Friday. Virtu Financial has a 52 week low of $16.26 and a 52 week high of $23.00. The firm has a market cap of $2.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.70 and a beta of 0.32. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $17.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 0.52.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 1st will be paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 30th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.54%. Virtu Financial’s payout ratio is currently 59.26%.

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.