Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) Receives Consensus Rating of "Hold" from Analysts

Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT - Get Free Report) has been given an average recommendation of "Hold" by the eight research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $37.25.

Several equities research analysts recently commented on VIRT shares. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Virtu Financial from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note 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. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $40.00 price target (up from $38.00) on shares of Virtu Financial in a research note on Thursday, April 24th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Douglas A. Cifu sold 177,561 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.88, for a total transaction of $6,903,571.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 231,306 shares in the company, valued at $8,993,177.28. This trade represents a 43.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John Nixon sold 6,965 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.82, for a total value of $298,241.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 33,923 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,452,582.86. The trade was a 17.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 362,846 shares of company stock worth $14,079,615 over the last quarter. 47.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Virtu Financial

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Voya Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Virtu Financial by 2.8% during the first quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 10,002 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $381,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares during the period. Foundry Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 1.5% in the first quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 18,031 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $687,000 after acquiring an additional 275 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 0.8% in the first quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 33,397 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,273,000 after purchasing an additional 281 shares in the last quarter. Mariner LLC raised its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 8,074 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $288,000 after purchasing an additional 324 shares during the period. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Virtu Financial by 26.0% during the 1st quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 1,670 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 345 shares in the last quarter. 45.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Virtu Financial Price Performance

Shares of VIRT opened at $44.48 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $41.51 and a 200-day moving average of $38.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 0.49 and a quick ratio of 0.49. The company has a market capitalization of $6.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.68. Virtu Financial has a 1 year low of $21.59 and a 1 year high of $44.96.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $497.14 million for 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 company's quarterly revenue was up 30.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.76 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Virtu Financial will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Virtu Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 30th were paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.16%. Virtu Financial's payout ratio is presently 27.75%.

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.

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