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

Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in the month of August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,830,000 shares, a drop of 17.5% from the July 31st total of 3,430,000 shares. Currently, 3.5% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 1,600,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.8 days.

Insider Activity at Virtu Financial

In related news, Director Virginia Gambale sold 5,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.30, for a total value of $147,420.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 24,122 shares in the company, valued at approximately $658,530.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 46.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Virtu Financial

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of VIRT. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 76.5% in the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 73,572 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,510,000 after buying an additional 31,884 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial in the first quarter worth $1,238,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial in the fourth quarter worth $12,575,000. Diversify Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial in the first quarter worth $957,000. Finally, Seven Eight Capital LP acquired a new stake in shares of Virtu Financial in the first quarter worth $1,368,000. 45.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Virtu Financial Stock Performance

VIRT opened at $30.71 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.83 billion, a PE ratio of 21.48, a P/E/G ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 0.39. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $26.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $22.93. Virtu Financial has a fifty-two week low of $16.02 and a fifty-two week high of $30.99.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $385.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $331.92 million. Virtu Financial had a return on equity of 22.74% and a net margin of 7.59%. The company’s revenue was up 38.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.29 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Virtu Financial will post 2.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, September 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th. Virtu Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 67.13%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VIRT has been the topic of several analyst reports. Bank of America raised their target price on Virtu Financial from $25.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Citigroup increased their price target on Virtu Financial from $26.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Virtu Financial from $25.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Virtu Financial from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on Virtu Financial from $18.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $27.36.

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.