Virtu Financial (VIRT) Competitors

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) and Piper Sandler Companies (NYSE:PIPR) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, community ranking, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, risk, profitability, earnings, valuation and dividends.

Which has better valuation and earnings, VIRT or PIPR?

Virtu Financial has higher revenue and earnings than Piper Sandler Companies. Virtu Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Piper Sandler Companies, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Virtu Financial	$2.29B	2.35	$142.04M	$1.99	17.55
Piper Sandler Companies	$1.35B	4.43	$85.49M	$9.36	35.91

Which has more risk & volatility, VIRT or PIPR?

Virtu Financial has a beta of 0.38, indicating that its share price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Piper Sandler Companies has a beta of 1.39, indicating that its share price is 39% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts rate VIRT or PIPR?

Virtu Financial currently has a consensus price target of $29.50, suggesting a potential downside of 15.52%. Piper Sandler Companies has a consensus price target of $193.00, suggesting a potential downside of 42.58%. Given Virtu Financial's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Virtu Financial is more favorable than Piper Sandler Companies.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Virtu Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.43
Piper Sandler Companies	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33

Does the MarketBeat Community favor VIRT or PIPR?

Piper Sandler Companies received 31 more outperform votes than Virtu Financial when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 61.56% of users gave Virtu Financial an outperform vote while only 56.65% of users gave Piper Sandler Companies an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Virtu Financial	Outperform Votes 378 61.56%	Underperform Votes 236 38.44%
Piper Sandler Companies	Outperform Votes 409 56.65%	Underperform Votes 313 43.35%

Is VIRT or PIPR more profitable?

Piper Sandler Companies has a net margin of 10.84% compared to Virtu Financial's net margin of 7.29%. Virtu Financial's return on equity of 23.22% beat Piper Sandler Companies' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Virtu Financial	7.29%	23.22%	2.37%
Piper Sandler Companies	10.84%	16.06%	10.81%

Do institutionals and insiders believe in VIRT or PIPR?

45.8% of Virtu Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 72.8% of Piper Sandler Companies shares are owned by institutional investors. 46.7% of Virtu Financial shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 3.0% of Piper Sandler Companies shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media favor VIRT or PIPR?

In the previous week, Piper Sandler Companies had 4 more articles in the media than Virtu Financial. MarketBeat recorded 10 mentions for Piper Sandler Companies and 6 mentions for Virtu Financial. Virtu Financial's average media sentiment score of 1.53 beat Piper Sandler Companies' score of 1.43 indicating that Virtu Financial is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Virtu Financial	4 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
Piper Sandler Companies	8 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is VIRT or PIPR a better dividend stock?

Virtu Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Piper Sandler Companies pays an annual dividend of $2.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Virtu Financial pays out 48.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Piper Sandler Companies pays out 27.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.

Summary

Virtu Financial and Piper Sandler Companies tied by winning 10 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.