Virtu Financial's (VIRT) Overweight Rating Reiterated at Piper Sandler

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "overweight" rating reissued by equities research analysts at Piper Sandler in a research note issued on Tuesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $48.00 price target on the financial services provider's stock, up from their prior price target of $44.00. Piper Sandler's price target indicates a potential upside of 6.13% from the company's previous close.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. UBS Group restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $40.00 price target (up previously from $38.00) on shares of Virtu Financial in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Virtu Financial from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $39.13.

Virtu Financial Stock Performance

NASDAQ VIRT traded up $0.59 on Tuesday, hitting $45.23. The stock had a trading volume of 1,056,562 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,045,697. Virtu Financial has a one year low of $24.26 and a one year high of $45.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The stock has a market cap of $6.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.70. The company's 50-day moving average is $42.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $39.16.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.31. The company had revenue of $497.14 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $444.23 million. Virtu Financial had a net margin of 10.43% and a return on equity of 32.08%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 30.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.76 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Virtu Financial will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Virtu Financial news, CEO Douglas A. Cifu sold 178,320 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.57, for a total value of $6,877,802.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 408,867 shares in the company, valued at $15,770,000.19. This trade represents a 30.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John Nixon sold 6,965 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.82, for a total transaction of $298,241.30. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 33,923 shares in the company, valued at $1,452,582.86. This represents a 17.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 362,846 shares of company stock worth $14,079,615 over the last quarter. 46.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Virtu Financial

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Virtu Financial during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,032,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial during the fourth quarter worth approximately $12,196,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 98.7% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 13,153 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $469,000 after buying an additional 6,535 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 108,299 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,864,000 after buying an additional 5,679 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC acquired a new position in Virtu Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $344,000. 45.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.