Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) Reaches New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Thursday . The stock 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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on VIRT. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $32.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted 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. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.21.

Virtu Financial Stock Up 3.2 %

The business has a 50-day moving average of $36.39 and a 200-day moving average of $32.32. 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 has a market capitalization of $5.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.40, a P/E/G ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 0.45.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $388.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $379.18 million. Virtu Financial had a return on equity of 23.22% and a net margin of 7.29%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 30.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.40 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 2.9 EPS for the current year.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 15th. Investors of record on Sunday, December 1st were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.49%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. Virtu Financial’s payout ratio is 48.24%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Virtu Financial by 38.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,974,095 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $151,511,000 after acquiring an additional 1,368,419 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial in the third quarter valued at $29,815,000. Portolan Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Virtu Financial in the third quarter valued at $11,918,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its stake in Virtu Financial by 400.0% in the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 328,546 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,008,000 after purchasing an additional 262,835 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board acquired a new stake in Virtu Financial during the second quarter worth about $4,371,000. 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.