Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) Reaches New 12-Month High - Should You Buy?

Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT - Get Free Report)'s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Monday . The company traded as high as $45.12 and last traded at $44.64, with a volume of 157789 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $44.51.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on VIRT. Wall Street Zen cut Virtu Financial from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Virtu Financial from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Bank of America cut Virtu Financial from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $43.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $40.00 price target (up from $38.00) on shares of Virtu Financial in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Virtu Financial from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $37.25.

Virtu Financial Stock Up 0.5%

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 firm has a market cap of $6.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.70. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $41.86 and a 200-day moving average price of $38.76.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.31. Virtu Financial had a return on equity of 32.08% and a net margin of 10.43%. The business had revenue of $497.14 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $444.23 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.76 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 30.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 30th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 30th. Virtu Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Virtu Financial

In other Virtu Financial news, CEO Douglas A. Cifu sold 178,320 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.57, for a total value of $6,877,802.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 408,867 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,770,000.19. This represents a 30.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John Nixon sold 6,965 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 33,923 shares in the company, valued at $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 in the last ninety days. 47.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Virtu Financial

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Virtu Financial by 1.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,568,548 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $364,753,000 after buying an additional 165,396 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Virtu Financial by 28.2% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,375,783 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $227,488,000 after buying an additional 1,401,688 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake 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 valued at $56,157,000 after buying an additional 670,774 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Virtu Financial by 48.2% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,448,866 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $51,696,000 after buying an additional 471,526 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Virtu Financial by 50.9% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,320,356 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $49,764,000 after buying an additional 445,586 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.