Royal Bank of Canada Cuts Position in Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. $VRTS

Key Points

• Royal Bank of Canada has reduced its stake in Virtus Investment Partners by 15.2%, now owning 94,775 shares valued at approximately $16.3 million.
• Virtus Investment Partners recently declared a quarterly dividend increase from $2.25 to $2.40, representing a 4.9% dividend yield.
• The company's latest quarterly earnings showed an EPS of $6.25, exceeding analyst expectations and a revenue of $210.53 million, surpassing estimates of $191.90 million.

Royal Bank of Canada lessened its holdings in Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRTS - Free Report) by 15.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 94,775 shares of the closed-end fund's stock after selling 16,936 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada owned 1.37% of Virtus Investment Partners worth $16,336,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 106,104 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $23,404,000 after acquiring an additional 9,793 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 9,872 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $2,178,000 after acquiring an additional 654 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 24,921 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $5,497,000 after acquiring an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 6.6% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 30,246 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $6,672,000 after acquiring an additional 1,876 shares during the last quarter. Finally, D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 43.3% in the fourth quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 7,802 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $1,721,000 after acquiring an additional 2,357 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.52% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Virtus Investment Partners Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of VRTS traded down $3.01 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $195.04. 46,342 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 70,695. 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.18 and a 1 year high of $252.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.54 and a beta of 1.44. The business's 50-day moving average price is $198.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $179.76.

Virtus Investment Partners (NASDAQ:VRTS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 25th. The closed-end fund reported $6.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.17 by $0.08. Virtus Investment Partners had a return on equity of 21.56% and a net margin of 13.42%.The company had revenue of $210.53 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $191.90 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $6.53 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. will post 27.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Virtus Investment Partners Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 31st will be given a $2.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 31st. This is a positive change from Virtus Investment Partners's previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.9%. Virtus Investment Partners's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.74%.

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.