Virtus Investment Partners (NASDAQ:VRTS) Lowered to “Hold” Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Virtus Investment Partners (NASDAQ:VRTS) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Monday morning.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on VRTS. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Virtus Investment Partners from $211.00 to $198.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Piper Sandler cut their price target on Virtus Investment Partners from $216.00 to $211.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. TD Cowen cut their price target on Virtus Investment Partners from $220.00 to $158.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Barclays set a $150.00 price target on Virtus Investment Partners and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $179.25.

Virtus Investment Partners Price Performance

Virtus Investment Partners stock opened at $154.04 on Monday. Virtus Investment Partners has a one year low of $142.18 and a one year high of $252.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 11.86 and a current ratio of 11.86. The business has a fifty day moving average of $166.25 and a two-hundred day moving average of $201.25. The company has a market cap of $1.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.11 and a beta of 1.36.

Virtus Investment Partners (NASDAQ:VRTS) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The closed-end fund reported $5.73 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.68 by $0.05. Virtus Investment Partners had a return on equity of 21.56% and a net margin of 13.42%. The company had revenue of $217.93 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $201.99 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $5.41 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Virtus Investment Partners will post 27.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Virtus Investment Partners Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $2.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.84%. Virtus Investment Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 53.41%.

Institutional Trading of Virtus Investment Partners

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Virtus Investment Partners by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 276,880 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $61,074,000 after acquiring an additional 21,344 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 158,028 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $34,858,000 after purchasing an additional 12,642 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 106,104 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $23,404,000 after purchasing an additional 9,793 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 33.6% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 81,738 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $18,030,000 after purchasing an additional 20,544 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 71,600 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $15,794,000 after purchasing an additional 3,224 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.52% of the company’s stock.

About Virtus Investment Partners

Virtus Investment Partners, Inc is a publicly owned investment manager. The firm primarily provides its services to individual and institutional clients. It launches separate client focused equity and fixed income portfolios. The firm launches equity, fixed income, and balanced mutual funds for its clients.