Virtu Financial, Inc. (VIRT) To Go Ex-Dividend on February 28th

Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 25th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of 0.24 per share by the financial services provider on Monday, March 17th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th.

Virtu Financial has a dividend payout ratio of 24.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Virtu Financial to earn $3.23 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.96 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 29.7%.

Virtu Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VIRT opened at $35.10 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $37.11 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $34.36. Virtu Financial has a twelve month low of $17.01 and a twelve month high of $41.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last announced its earnings results 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 net margin of 9.61% and a return on equity of 27.39%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Virtu Financial will post 3.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on VIRT shares. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Virtu Financial from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Virtu Financial has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.36.

Insider Buying and Selling at Virtu Financial

In other news, 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 90,749 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,343,193.16. This represents a 44.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 34,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 140,967 shares of company stock valued at $5,213,964 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 46.70% of the company’s stock.

Virtu Financial Company Profile

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.