Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) Given Average Recommendation of "Hold" by Analysts

Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus rating of "Hold" by the seven research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $31.36.

VIRT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Virtu Financial from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th.

Virtu Financial Stock Performance

VIRT traded up $0.05 on Tuesday, reaching $37.76. The company had a trading volume of 717,774 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,168,742. The company's fifty day moving average is $37.44 and its 200 day moving average is $35.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 1.13. The stock has a market cap of $5.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.57. Virtu Financial has a fifty-two week low of $20.15 and a fifty-two week high of $41.38.

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Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.32. Virtu Financial had a return on equity of 27.39% and a net margin of 9.61%. As a group, analysts predict that Virtu Financial will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.54%. Virtu Financial's dividend payout ratio is 32.32%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Virtu Financial news, COO Brett Fairclough sold 72,967 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.84, for a total transaction of $2,688,104.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 90,749 shares in the company, valued at $3,343,193.16. The trade was a 44.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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 company's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.88, for a total value of $1,253,920.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 191,703 shares of the company's stock, 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 have sold 140,967 shares of company stock worth $5,213,964 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 46.70% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Virtu Financial

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VIRT. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in Virtu Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 172.7% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 870 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 551 shares during the last quarter. Albion Financial Group UT acquired a new position in Virtu Financial during the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Virtu Financial during the 4th quarter worth approximately $47,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.78% of the company's stock.

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.