JPMorgan Chase & Co. Increases Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) Price Target to $21.50

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) had its target price lifted by research analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $20.00 to $21.50 in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “neutral” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price target points to a potential downside of 2.36% from the stock’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also commented on VIRT. UBS Group dropped their price target 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 company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. 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. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Virtu Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $22.24.

Virtu Financial Stock Performance

Shares of Virtu Financial stock opened at $22.02 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $3.48 billion, a PE ratio of 15.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 0.40. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $19.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $18.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.46. Virtu Financial has a 1 year low of $16.02 and a 1 year high of $22.80.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 analyst estimates of $272.96 million. Virtu Financial had a return on equity of 17.14% and a net margin of 6.04%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.32 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Virtu Financial will post 1.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Virtu Financial

In other Virtu Financial news, CEO Douglas A. Cifu acquired 50,000 shares of Virtu Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $16.21 per share, with a total value of $810,500.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 584,132 shares in the company, valued at $9,468,779.72. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 44.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of VIRT. Norges Bank bought a new position in Virtu Financial in the 4th quarter worth $12,575,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Virtu Financial by 7.6% in the third quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 8,347,311 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $144,158,000 after acquiring an additional 588,749 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its stake in Virtu Financial by 156.9% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 801,024 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,834,000 after acquiring an additional 489,264 shares during the period. 1834 Investment Advisors Co. increased its stake in Virtu Financial by 913.6% in the fourth quarter. 1834 Investment Advisors Co. now owns 306,289 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,205,000 after acquiring an additional 276,071 shares during the period. Finally, Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Virtu Financial in the third quarter valued at about $2,294,000. Institutional investors own 45.78% of the company’s stock.

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.