Brokerages Set Virtu Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VIRT) Target Price at $43.00

Virtu Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VIRT) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the nine research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $43.00.

Several research firms recently weighed in on VIRT. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Virtu Financial from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Zacks Research cut shares of Virtu Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Virtu Financial from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Virtu Financial from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on Virtu Financial from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 28,370 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.94, for a total transaction of $1,104,727.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 116,191 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,524,477.54. This represents a 19.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Joseph Molluso sold 200,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.88, for a total transaction of $7,776,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 326,585 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,697,624.80. This trade represents a 37.98% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 270,000 shares of company stock worth $10,458,644 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 47.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,999,628 shares of the company’s stock worth $354,987,000 after purchasing an additional 142,890 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Virtu Financial by 64.2% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,370,400 shares of the company’s stock valued at $84,149,000 after purchasing an additional 926,376 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Virtu Financial by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,900,702 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,338,000 after purchasing an additional 115,612 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Virtu Financial by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,395,686 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,514,000 after buying an additional 14,113 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd raised its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 53.1% in the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 1,367,583 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,549,000 after buying an additional 474,177 shares during the period. 45.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Virtu Financial Stock Down 2.0%

Shares of NYSE:VIRT opened at $39.62 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $38.19 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $36.32. The firm has a market cap of $6.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.72, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.47. Virtu Financial has a 52-week low of $31.55 and a 52-week high of $45.77.

Virtu Financial (NYSE:VIRT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The company reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.73. Virtu Financial had a return on equity of 48.35% and a net margin of 12.90%.The firm had revenue of $969.89 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $513.51 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.14 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.3% on a year-over-year basis.

Virtu Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 27th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 27th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Virtu Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.71%.

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.