Public Sector Pension Investment Board Boosts Stake in Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. $VRTS

Key Points

• The Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its stake in Virtus Investment Partners by 27.4%, acquiring an additional 4,500 shares to total 20,953 shares, valued at approximately $3.6 million.
• Virtus Investment Partners announced a quarterly dividend increase from $2.25 to $2.40 per share, representing a 5.0% dividend yield.
• The company reported $6.25 earnings per share, exceeding analysts' expectations, and had a strong revenue of $210.53 million for the last quarter.

Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its stake in Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRTS - Free Report) by 27.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,953 shares of the closed-end fund's stock after acquiring an additional 4,500 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board owned 0.30% of Virtus Investment Partners worth $3,611,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Virtus Investment Partners in the 1st quarter valued at about $9,639,000. Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new position in Virtus Investment Partners during the 1st quarter worth approximately $219,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Virtus Investment Partners by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 31,427 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $5,417,000 after purchasing an additional 1,653 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its position in Virtus Investment Partners by 59.1% during the 1st quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 4,753 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $819,000 after purchasing an additional 1,766 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG increased its position in Virtus Investment Partners by 63.6% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 10,086 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $1,738,000 after purchasing an additional 3,920 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.52% of the company's stock.

Virtus Investment Partners Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VRTS traded up $11.2580 during trading on Friday, hitting $200.3080. 148,187 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 70,186. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $193.72 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $178.26. The company has a market cap of $1.35 billion, a PE ratio of 11.85 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a current ratio of 11.86, a quick ratio of 11.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 25th. The closed-end fund reported $6.25 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.17 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $210.53 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $191.90 million. Virtus Investment Partners had a return on equity of 21.56% and a net margin of 13.42%.During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $6.53 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. will post 27.7 EPS for the current year.

Virtus Investment Partners Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Investors of record on Friday, October 31st will be paid a $2.40 dividend. This represents a $9.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 31st. This is an increase from Virtus Investment Partners's previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Virtus Investment Partners's dividend payout ratio is currently 46.74%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on VRTS. Morgan Stanley set a $171.00 target price on Virtus Investment Partners and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Virtus Investment Partners from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Virtus Investment Partners from $211.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Virtus Investment Partners from $150.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Virtus Investment Partners has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and an average price target of $188.25.

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.