Bank of America Corp DE Raises Stake in Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRTS)

Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRTS - Free Report) by 6.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 30,246 shares of the closed-end fund's stock after purchasing an additional 1,876 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE owned about 0.43% of Virtus Investment Partners worth $6,672,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VRTS. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Virtus Investment Partners by 2,902.6% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Virtus Investment Partners by 17.9% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 4,818 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $1,074,000 after acquiring an additional 733 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 204.9% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 8.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 276,880 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $61,074,000 after buying an additional 21,344 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in shares of Virtus Investment Partners during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $353,000. 80.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Virtus Investment Partners Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of VRTS stock traded up $0.39 on Friday, hitting $171.82. 115,170 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 40,975. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 11.86 and a current ratio of 11.86. Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. has a one year low of $142.18 and a one year high of $252.82. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $162.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $193.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.18 and a beta of 1.47.

Virtus Investment Partners (NASDAQ:VRTS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The closed-end fund reported $5.73 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.68 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $217.93 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 last year, the firm earned $5.41 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. will post 27.7 EPS for the current year.

Virtus Investment Partners Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 31st will be given a dividend of $2.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.24%. Virtus Investment Partners's payout ratio is currently 53.41%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Barclays set a $150.00 price target on shares of Virtus Investment Partners and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. TD Cowen lowered 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. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Virtus Investment Partners from $149.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Virtus Investment Partners from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of Virtus Investment Partners from $216.00 to $211.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Virtus Investment Partners currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $167.75.

Virtus Investment Partners 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.