Bank of America Cuts Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) Price Target to $48.00

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) had its price objective lowered by Bank of America from $56.00 to $48.00 in a report issued on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on VIRT. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Virtu Financial from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note 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 report on Thursday, February 6th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Virtu Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $33.21.

Virtu Financial Trading Down 6.1 %

Shares of VIRT opened at $35.10 on Wednesday. Virtu Financial has a twelve month low of $20.15 and a twelve month high of $41.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.82, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.71. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $37.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $35.53.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.32. Virtu Financial had a return on equity of 27.39% and a net margin of 9.61%. On average, research analysts predict that Virtu Financial will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Virtu Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.74%. Virtu Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.32%.

Insider Activity at Virtu Financial

In other Virtu Financial news, COO Brett Fairclough sold 72,967 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.84, for a total value 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 approximately $3,343,193.16. The trade was a 44.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 34,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.41, for a total value of $1,271,940.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 157,703 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,899,669.23. This represents a 17.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 140,967 shares of company stock valued at $5,213,964. Company insiders own 46.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in Virtu Financial by 9.1% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 14,434 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $440,000 after acquiring an additional 1,200 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in Virtu Financial by 734.9% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 93,743 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,902,000 after purchasing an additional 82,515 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Virtu Financial by 38.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,974,095 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $151,511,000 after buying an additional 1,368,419 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC lifted its position in Virtu Financial by 470.3% during the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 72,387 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,205,000 after buying an additional 59,695 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Paloma Partners Management Co purchased a new stake in Virtu Financial during the third quarter worth approximately $640,000. 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.