Short Interest in Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) Rises By 36.4%

Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,100,000 shares, a growth of 36.4% from the May 31st total of 1,540,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,390,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.5 days. Approximately 2.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Virtu Financial from $22.50 to $24.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $19.20 to $21.70 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $20.00 to $21.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $21.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on Virtu Financial from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $22.24.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Virtu Financial by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,868,222 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,851,000 after acquiring an additional 92,279 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Virtu Financial by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,123,418 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $22,760,000 after purchasing an additional 86,313 shares during the period. Gratus Capital LLC raised its position in Virtu Financial by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Gratus Capital LLC now owns 832,529 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $16,867,000 after purchasing an additional 46,719 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Virtu Financial by 156.9% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 801,024 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,834,000 after buying an additional 489,264 shares during the period. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Virtu Financial by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 799,623 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $16,408,000 after buying an additional 7,721 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 45.78% of the company’s stock.

Virtu Financial Stock Performance

Shares of Virtu Financial stock opened at $22.45 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $22.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $20.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.70, a P/E/G ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 0.36. Virtu Financial has a fifty-two week low of $16.02 and a fifty-two week high of $25.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.45 and a quick ratio of 0.45.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $366.87 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $334.79 million. Virtu Financial had a return on equity of 17.33% and a net margin of 6.04%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Virtu Financial will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Virtu Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Saturday, June 1st were paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 31st. Virtu Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 67.13%.

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.