Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) Short Interest Update

Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 2,050,000 shares, a drop of 19.3% from the September 15th total of 2,540,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,370,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.5 days. Currently, 2.5% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Virtu Financial news, Director Virginia Gambale sold 5,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.30, for a total transaction of $147,420.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 24,122 shares in the company, valued at approximately $658,530.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 46.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Virtu Financial

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 1,014.9% during the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 164,377 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,007,000 after purchasing an additional 149,634 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial during the third quarter valued at $827,000. USA Financial Formulas purchased a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial during the third quarter valued at $33,000. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 12.7% during the third quarter. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC now owns 22,530 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $686,000 after purchasing an additional 2,540 shares during the period. Finally, City Center Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial during the third quarter valued at $238,000. 45.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. 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. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Virtu Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 19th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $18.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $28.79.

Virtu Financial Stock Up 1.2 %

NASDAQ VIRT opened at $32.55 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22. The company has a fifty day moving average of $30.66 and a two-hundred day moving average of $25.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.76, a PEG ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 0.38. Virtu Financial has a 52 week low of $16.02 and a 52 week high of $32.88.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $385.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $331.92 million. Virtu Financial had a net margin of 7.59% and a return on equity of 22.74%. Virtu Financial’s quarterly revenue was up 38.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.29 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Virtu Financial will post 2.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Virtu Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, September 1st were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. Virtu Financial’s payout ratio is 67.13%.

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.