Morgan Stanley Issues Positive Forecast for Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) Stock Price

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT - Get Free Report) had its price target upped by Morgan Stanley from $31.00 to $35.00 in a research report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an "underweight" rating on the financial services provider's stock. Morgan Stanley's target price would suggest a potential downside of 21.58% from the company's current price.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Bank of America downgraded shares of Virtu Financial from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $43.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. UBS Group reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $40.00 price target (up from $38.00) on shares of Virtu Financial in a report on Thursday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Virtu Financial from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on 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, Wall Street Zen downgraded Virtu Financial from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $39.13.

Virtu Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VIRT traded up $0.46 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $44.63. 618,530 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,051,739. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $39.10. Virtu Financial has a 1-year low of $22.73 and a 1-year high of $45.18. 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 firm has a market cap of $6.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.70.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.30 EPS 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 the consensus estimate of $444.23 million. Virtu Financial had a net margin of 10.43% and a return on equity of 32.08%. Virtu Financial's quarterly revenue was up 30.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.76 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Virtu Financial will post 3.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Virtu Financial

In related news, CEO Douglas A. Cifu sold 177,561 shares of Virtu Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.88, for a total transaction of $6,903,571.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 231,306 shares in the company, valued at $8,993,177.28. The trade was 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 sale, the director directly 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. Over the last three months, insiders sold 362,846 shares of company stock worth $14,079,615. 46.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Virtu Financial

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of VIRT. FMR LLC boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 1,401,688 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in Virtu Financial in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,993,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 83.6% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,473,165 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $56,157,000 after purchasing an additional 670,774 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 180.0% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 948,590 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $33,846,000 after purchasing an additional 609,821 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial during the first quarter worth about $18,956,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.78% of the company's stock.

Virtu Financial Company Profile

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.