Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) Issues Earnings Results

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) issued its earnings results on Thursday. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.03, Briefing.com reports. Virtu Financial had a net margin of 7.59% and a return on equity of 22.74%. The company had revenue of $388.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $379.18 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.40 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 30.2% compared to the same quarter last year.

Virtu Financial Trading Up 0.4 %

VIRT stock traded up $0.11 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $30.97. The stock had a trading volume of 1,104,090 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,282,295. The firm has a market cap of $4.87 billion, a PE ratio of 21.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 0.43 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $31.41 and its 200 day moving average price is $26.56. Virtu Financial has a 12-month low of $16.02 and a 12-month high of $33.55.

Virtu Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, December 1st will be paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Sunday, December 1st. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.10%. Virtu Financial’s payout ratio is currently 67.13%.

Insider Transactions at Virtu Financial

In other news, Director Virginia Gambale sold 5,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.30, for a total transaction of $147,420.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 24,122 shares in the company, valued at $658,530.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 46.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on VIRT shares. Citigroup increased their target price 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. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $18.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $29.50.

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.