In a revised analysis today, Citigroup (NYSE:C) has upgraded its rating for Virtu Financial Inc . (NASDAQ:NASDAQ:VIRT) from Neutral to Buy. This comes as the financial services firm's one-year average price target stands at $21.57, indicating a potential upside of 27.68% from the last reported closing price of $16.89.
The range of price forecasts for Virtu Financial varies, with a low of $19.19 and a high of $27.30. However, the company's projected annual revenue is expected to decline by 13.13% to $1,503 million, while the non-GAAP EPS is forecasted at $3.08.
On July 26, 2023, Virtu Financial declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.24 per share ($0.96 annualized). Shareholders on record as of September 1, 2023, are set to receive this dividend tomorrow, September 15, 2023 – an arrangement identical to previous payments. With the current share price of $16.89 per share, this translates into a dividend yield of 5.68%.
Historically, over a five-year period with weekly sampling, the average dividend yield for Virtu Financial has been 4.20%, with the lowest and highest yields recorded at 2.56% and 6.26% respectively. The current yield is 1.80 standard deviations above this historical average.
Virtu Financial's dividend payout ratio stands at 0.64, which suggests that 64% of its income is paid out as dividends. Notably, the company has not raised its dividend in the past three years.
Institutional sentiment towards Virtu Financial appears mixed with a total of 541 funds or institutions reporting positions in the company – a decrease of 42 or 7.20% compared to the previous quarter. The average portfolio weight dedicated to VIRT has decreased by 8.84% to 0.14%, while total shares owned by institutions have fallen by 5.30% to 86,816K shares over the last three months. However, the put/call ratio of VIRT stands at 0.30, suggesting a bullish outlook.
Among the shareholders, William Blair Investment Management increased its holdings by 20.69% to 7,759K shares, representing 8.25% ownership of the company. Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU) also raised its stake by a significant 40.25%, owning 3,914K shares or 4.16% of the company.
Conversely, other shareholders showed a decrease in their positions. Renaissance Technologies reduced its holdings by 1.74% to 4,197K shares, representing 4.46% ownership of Virtu Financial, while the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund Investor Shares slightly increased its share count but decreased its portfolio allocation in VIRT by 16.25%.
Virtu Financial is known as a leading provider of financial services and products that leverage advanced technology to deliver liquidity to global markets and innovative trading solutions to clients. The company's diverse product suite includes offerings in execution, liquidity sourcing, analytics, and broker-neutral, multi-dealer platforms in workflow technology across multiple asset classes and global markets.
This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.