Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRTS) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $2.25

Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRTS) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, May 15th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 31st will be given a dividend of 2.25 per share by the closed-end fund on Friday, August 15th. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 31st.

Virtus Investment Partners has increased its dividend by an average of 21.4% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 7 years. Virtus Investment Partners has a payout ratio of 35.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Virtus Investment Partners to earn $30.06 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $9.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 29.9%.

Virtus Investment Partners Stock Up 1.0%

NASDAQ VRTS opened at $178.33 on Friday. Virtus Investment Partners has a 52 week low of $142.18 and a 52 week high of $252.82. The firm has a market cap of $1.23 billion, a PE ratio of 10.55 and a beta of 1.47. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $163.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $197.03. The company has a quick ratio of 11.86, a current ratio of 11.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

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

Institutional Trading of Virtus Investment Partners

An institutional investor recently raised its position in Virtus Investment Partners stock. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRTS) by 2.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,952 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after buying an additional 103 shares during the quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. owned approximately 0.06% of Virtus Investment Partners worth $681,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. 80.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays set a $150.00 price target on shares of Virtus Investment Partners and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Virtus Investment Partners from $149.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Virtus Investment Partners from $216.00 to $211.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of Virtus Investment Partners from $220.00 to $158.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Virtus Investment Partners from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. 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 data from MarketBeat, Virtus Investment Partners currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $167.75.

Virtus Investment Partners Company Profile

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.