Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) Shares Gap Up After Analyst Upgrade

Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) shares gapped up before the market opened on Friday after Piper Sandler raised their price target on the stock from $21.00 to $25.00. The stock had previously closed at $20.15, but opened at $20.65. Piper Sandler currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Virtu Financial shares last traded at $20.54, with a volume of 66,532 shares traded.

VIRT has been the subject of several other reports. Citigroup boosted their price target on Virtu Financial from $21.00 to $22.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Virtu Financial from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com upgraded Virtu Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on Virtu Financial from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 26th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.75.

Insider Buying and Selling at Virtu Financial

In related news, CEO Douglas A. Cifu bought 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $16.21 per share, for a total transaction of $810,500.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 584,132 shares in the company, valued at $9,468,779.72. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 44.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Virtu Financial

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. State of Wyoming lifted its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 19.7% in the 2nd quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 4,397 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $75,000 after purchasing an additional 725 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 7.2% in the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 11,037 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $224,000 after purchasing an additional 740 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP lifted its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 79.9% in the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,680 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 746 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 39,272 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $796,000 after purchasing an additional 766 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 51.2% in the 3rd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,413 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 817 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.78% of the company’s stock.

Virtu Financial Trading Up 2.3 %

The company has a 50 day moving average price of $18.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $18.60. The firm has a market cap of $3.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.46.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.13). Virtu Financial had a return on equity of 16.94% and a net margin of 6.22%. The firm had revenue of $535.98 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $272.96 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.32 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 1.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Virtu Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.66%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. Virtu Financial’s payout ratio is 68.57%.

About Virtu Financial

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.