Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seven ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $27.36.

VIRT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Virtu Financial from $20.00 to $21.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. StockNews.com upgraded Virtu Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 19th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $18.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 1st. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $26.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $25.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Virtu Financial

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Riverview Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial during the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. Quarry LP raised its position in Virtu Financial by 79.9% during the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,680 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 746 shares during the period. CWM LLC lifted its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 112.3% in the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,131 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 1,127 shares during the last quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 55.3% in the 1st quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,193 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 781 shares during the period. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 21.0% during the 2nd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 2,143 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 372 shares during the last quarter. 45.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Virtu Financial Price Performance

NASDAQ VIRT opened at $28.37 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. Virtu Financial has a 12 month low of $16.02 and a 12 month high of $29.69. The stock has a market cap of $4.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.84, a PEG ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 0.39. The company’s 50 day moving average is $23.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $20.88.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $385.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $331.92 million. Virtu Financial had a net margin of 7.59% and a return on equity of 22.67%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 38.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.29 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Virtu Financial will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, September 15th. Investors of record on Sunday, September 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Sunday, September 1st. Virtu Financial’s payout ratio is 67.13%.

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.