Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) Price Target Raised to $28.00

by · The Markets Daily

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT – Free Report) had its target price hoisted by Morgan Stanley from $26.00 to $28.00 in a report published on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has an underweight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on VIRT. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Virtu Financial from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group restated 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. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Bank of America lowered their target price on Virtu Financial from $56.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $37.88.

View Our Latest Analysis on VIRT

Virtu Financial Price Performance

VIRT opened at $38.36 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 1.13. Virtu Financial has a 1-year low of $21.38 and a 1-year high of $41.38. The company has a 50-day moving average of $36.83 and a 200-day moving average of $36.19. The company has a market capitalization of $5.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.92, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.71.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.09 earnings per share (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%. Equities analysts expect that Virtu Financial will post 3.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Virtu Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.50%. Virtu Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 34,000 shares of Virtu Financial stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.41, for a total transaction of $1,271,940.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 157,703 shares in the company, valued at $5,899,669.23. The trade was a 17.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Brett Fairclough sold 72,967 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 90,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,343,193.16. This represents a 44.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 140,967 shares of company stock valued at $5,213,964 in the last three months. 46.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Virtu Financial

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Virtu Financial by 28.2% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,375,783 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $227,488,000 after purchasing an additional 1,401,688 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial in the fourth quarter valued at $39,993,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in Virtu Financial by 180.0% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 948,590 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,846,000 after buying an additional 609,821 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Virtu Financial by 48.2% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,448,866 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $51,696,000 after acquiring an additional 471,526 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Virtu Financial in the fourth quarter worth about $12,196,000. 45.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Virtu Financial Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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