Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) Plans $0.24 Quarterly Dividend

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 4.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 Stock Up 1.1 %

VIRT stock traded up $0.23 during trading on Thursday, reaching $22.07. The stock had a trading volume of 115,115 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,066,726. Virtu Financial has a one year low of $16.02 and a one year high of $22.80. The company’s 50 day moving average is $19.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $18.80. The company has a market capitalization of $3.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.16, a P/E/G ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Douglas A. Cifu bought 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $16.21 per share, for a total transaction of $810,500.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 584,132 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,468,779.72. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 44.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VIRT has been the topic of several research reports. UBS Group dropped their price objective 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 increased their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $21.00 to $22.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Virtu Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $21.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Four investment 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 company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.75.

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.