Virtu Financial, Inc. to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.24 (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 24th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Saturday, June 1st will be paid a dividend of 0.24 per share by the financial services provider on Saturday, June 15th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.52%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 31st.

Virtu Financial has a dividend payout ratio of 40.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Virtu Financial to earn $2.04 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 47.1%.

Virtu Financial Trading Down 2.8 %

Shares of Virtu Financial stock opened at $21.23 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $19.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $18.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.36 billion, a PE ratio of 15.60, a P/E/G ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 0.40. Virtu Financial has a 1-year low of $16.02 and a 1-year high of $22.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 0.46 and a quick ratio of 0.46.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.13). The business had revenue of $535.98 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $272.96 million. Virtu Financial had a return on equity of 16.94% and a net margin of 6.22%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.32 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Virtu Financial will post 1.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on VIRT shares. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $21.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $21.00 to $22.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Virtu Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.75.

Insider Buying and Selling at Virtu Financial

In related news, CEO Douglas A. Cifu purchased 50,000 shares of Virtu Financial stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $16.21 per share, for a total transaction of $810,500.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 584,132 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,468,779.72. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 44.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.