Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) Reaches New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)’s share price hit a new 52-week high on Thursday . The company traded as high as $38.67 and last traded at $38.62, with a volume of 499708 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $37.41.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on VIRT. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $32.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.21.

Virtu Financial Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.47. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $36.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $32.49. The company has a market capitalization of $6.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.86, a PEG ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 0.45.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.03. Virtu Financial had a net margin of 7.29% and a return on equity of 23.22%. The business had revenue of $388.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $379.18 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.40 EPS. Virtu Financial’s quarterly revenue was up 30.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 2.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Virtu Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, December 1st were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.43%. Virtu Financial’s payout ratio is presently 48.24%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VIRT. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. USA Financial Formulas bought a new position in Virtu Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Albion Financial Group UT bought a new position in Virtu Financial in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $45,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Virtu Financial by 149.0% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,410 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $73,000 after purchasing an additional 1,442 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its stake in Virtu Financial by 42.9% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,864 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $87,000 after purchasing an additional 860 shares during the last quarter. 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.