Zacks Research Predicts Weaker Earnings for Virtu Financial

Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT - Free Report) - Analysts at Zacks Research reduced their Q4 2025 EPS estimates for shares of Virtu Financial in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, May 6th. Zacks Research analyst K. Dey now expects that the financial services provider will earn $0.66 per share for the quarter, down from their previous forecast of $0.69. The consensus estimate for Virtu Financial's current full-year earnings is $3.13 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Virtu Financial's Q2 2026 earnings at $0.77 EPS and Q1 2027 earnings at $0.95 EPS.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.31. Virtu Financial had a return on equity of 27.39% and a net margin of 9.61%. The firm had revenue of $497.14 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $444.23 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.76 EPS. The business's revenue was up 30.3% on a year-over-year basis.

VIRT has been the subject of several other reports. UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $40.00 price objective (up from $38.00) on shares of Virtu Financial in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $56.00 to $48.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Virtu Financial currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $37.88.

Virtu Financial Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ VIRT traded up $0.12 during trading on Thursday, reaching $42.65. The company had a trading volume of 592,751 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,014,099. The company's fifty day moving average price is $37.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $36.88. Virtu Financial has a 12 month low of $21.55 and a 12 month high of $44.58. The stock has a market cap of $6.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.36, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17.

Virtu Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.25%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. Virtu Financial's dividend payout ratio is currently 27.75%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Douglas A. Cifu sold 178,320 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.57, for a total transaction of $6,877,802.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 408,867 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,770,000.19. This trade represents a 30.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 34,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.88, for a total transaction of $1,253,920.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,703 shares in the company, valued at $7,070,006.64. The trade was a 15.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 496,848 shares of company stock worth $18,995,338 over the last three months. 47.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in VIRT. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 28.2% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,375,783 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $227,488,000 after purchasing an additional 1,401,688 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Virtu Financial in the fourth quarter worth about $39,993,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Virtu Financial by 83.6% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,473,165 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $56,157,000 after acquiring an additional 670,774 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in Virtu Financial by 180.0% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 948,590 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $33,846,000 after acquiring an additional 609,821 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Virtu Financial in the first quarter worth about $18,956,000. 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.