Virtu Financial (NYSE:VIRT) Rating Lowered to Hold at Zacks Research

Posted by Stanley Muller on Jul 15th, 2026

Virtu Financial (NYSE:VIRT – Get Free Report) was downgraded by investment analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on VIRT. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Virtu Financial from $57.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Wall Street Zen raised Virtu Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Virtu Financial from $51.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Virtu Financial in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Virtu Financial from $44.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Virtu Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.67.

View Our Latest Report on VIRT

Virtu Financial Trading Down 7.7%

NYSE VIRT opened at $59.67 on Monday. Virtu Financial has a 52 week low of $31.55 and a 52 week high of $68.02. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $56.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $46.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The firm has a market cap of $9.25 billion, a PE ratio of 9.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 0.58.

Virtu Financial (NYSE:VIRT – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 14th. The company reported $1.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The business had revenue of $718.00 million for the quarter. Virtu Financial had a net margin of 14.17% and a return on equity of 51.63%. Virtu Financial has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 1.820-1.820 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Virtu Financial will post 5.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Brett Fairclough sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.06, for a total value of $1,501,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 42,473 shares in the company, valued at $2,126,198.38. This trade represents a 41.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 46.76% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Virtu Financial

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 103.8% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 760 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 387 shares during the period. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 480.6% during the fourth quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC now owns 836 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 692 shares during the period. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 51.9% during the third quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 972 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 332 shares during the period. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Virtu Financial in the third quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position in Virtu Financial by 1,624.1% in the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 942 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.78% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Virtu Financial

Here are the key news stories impacting Virtu Financial this week:

Positive Sentiment: Virtu reported second-quarter EPS of $1.82, well ahead of expectations, with revenue of $718 million, a net margin of 14.17%, and return on equity of 51.63%. The results reinforce the company’s ability to generate strong profits in a volatile trading environment.
Positive Sentiment: The company also raised its second-quarter 2026 EPS guidance to $1.82, above the consensus estimate of $1.47, signaling management expects the earnings strength to continue. Article Title
Neutral Sentiment: Virtu announced it is marketing an additional $400 million in first-lien term loans, which would increase total term debt to $1.93 billion. The refinancing/borrowing move appears tied to capital structure management, but it may also raise investor focus on leverage.
Neutral Sentiment: Separate commentary from analysts and earnings-preview coverage highlighted Virtu’s history of beating estimates and noted a moderate buy consensus, which supports the bullish earnings narrative but is not a direct catalyst on its own.

Virtu Financial Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Virtu Financial, Inc is a technology-driven electronic trading firm and market maker that provides liquidity and price discovery across a wide range of financial instruments. Leveraging advanced analytics, high-performance computing and proprietary algorithms, Virtu operates in equities, fixed income, foreign exchange, commodities and derivative products. Its technology platform is designed to capture bid-ask spreads in real time, manage risk through automated controls and adapt to changing market conditions.

The company offers a suite of execution services and market-making solutions to institutional clients such as asset managers, banks, broker-dealers and hedge funds.