Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. Reduces Holdings in Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRTS)

Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. decreased its position in Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRTS - Free Report) by 44.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 61,846 shares of the closed-end fund's stock after selling 48,583 shares during the quarter. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. owned approximately 0.88% of Virtus Investment Partners worth $13,642,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Virtus Investment Partners by 2,902.6% during the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 3,423 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $763,000 after acquiring an additional 3,309 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 17.9% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 4,818 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $1,074,000 after purchasing an additional 733 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 145,386 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $30,451,000 after buying an additional 3,651 shares during the last quarter. Private Client Services LLC bought a new position in Virtus Investment Partners during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $799,000. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its stake in Virtus Investment Partners by 204.9% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 14,119 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $2,957,000 after buying an additional 9,488 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.52% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on VRTS. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on Virtus Investment Partners from $216.00 to $211.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Virtus Investment Partners from $149.00 to $152.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday. TD Cowen dropped their target price 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. Barclays set a $150.00 price target on shares of Virtus Investment Partners and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Virtus Investment Partners from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Virtus Investment Partners has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $167.75.

Virtus Investment Partners Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VRTS traded up $0.54 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $160.04. The company's stock had a trading volume of 46,208 shares, compared to its average volume of 40,199. The company has a current ratio of 11.86, a quick ratio of 11.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The stock has a market cap of $1.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.47 and a beta of 1.47. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $164.46 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $199.41. Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.18 and a 12-month high of $252.82.

Virtus Investment Partners (NASDAQ:VRTS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. Virtus Investment Partners had a net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 21.56%. The firm had revenue of $217.93 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $201.99 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $5.41 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. will post 27.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Virtus Investment Partners Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be paid a $2.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.62%. Virtus Investment Partners's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 53.41%.

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.