Virtu Financial (NYSE:VIRT) Stock Gets Price Target Boost from JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Virtu Financial (NYSE:VIRT) had its price target lifted by analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $84.00 to $88.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s target price suggests a potential upside of 62.80% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore upgraded shares of Virtu Financial to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 5th. Zacks Research lowered Virtu Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 24th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Virtu Financial in a research report on Wednesday, August 26th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Virtu Financial in a research report on Friday, October 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Virtu Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Virtu Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $69.25.

Virtu Financial Stock Performance

NYSE:VIRT opened at $54.05 on Friday. Virtu Financial has a 1 year low of $31.55 and a 1 year high of $68.76. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $57.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $52.43. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.39 billion, a PE ratio of 7.94, a PEG ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 0.67.

Virtu Financial (NYSE:VIRT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 5th. The company reported $1.77 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $956.39 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $647.02 million. Virtu Financial had a net margin of 14.20% and a return on equity of 49.68%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 147.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.05 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Virtu Financial will post 6.46 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Virtu Financial

In other Virtu Financial news, Director Joseph J. Grano, Jr. sold 8,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.94, for a total value of $511,896.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 33,814 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,060,625.16. This represents a 19.90% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director John Nixon sold 9,094 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.13, for a total transaction of $546,822.22. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 30,902 shares in the company, valued at $1,858,137.26. This represents a 22.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 46.76% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,556,727 shares of the company’s stock worth $142,205,000 after acquiring an additional 170,518 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,920,590 shares of the company’s stock valued at $84,458,000 after acquiring an additional 19,888 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 39.8% during the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 782,114 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,591,000 after acquiring an additional 222,859 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in Virtu Financial by 115.4% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 672,405 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,572,000 after acquiring an additional 360,288 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Virtu Financial by 0.7% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 628,693 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,650,000 after acquiring an additional 4,183 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.78% of the company’s stock.

Virtu Financial Company Profile

Virtu Financial, Inc is a financial technology firm and electronic market maker that provides liquidity across a range of global financial markets. The company uses technology and quantitative analysis to facilitate trading in asset classes including equities, exchange-traded funds, options, futures, currencies, fixed income and commodities.

In addition to market making, Virtu offers execution services and trading technology for institutional investors, broker-dealers and other market participants.