Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Sells 12,186 Shares of Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRTS)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lessened its holdings in shares of Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRTS - Free Report) by 14.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 70,971 shares of the closed-end fund's stock after selling 12,186 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned 1.01% of Virtus Investment Partners worth $15,656,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its stake in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 1,300 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $287,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 170.3% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 200 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 126 shares during the period. KBC Group NV increased its position in Virtus Investment Partners by 61.2% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 395 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $87,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Virtus Investment Partners by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 29,774 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $6,568,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares during the period. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its position in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 5,098 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $1,125,000 after buying an additional 268 shares during the period. 80.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRTS has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Virtus Investment Partners from $211.00 to $198.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on Virtus Investment Partners from $220.00 to $158.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. StockNews.com cut Virtus Investment Partners from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Barclays set a $150.00 price objective on shares of Virtus Investment Partners and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their target price 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $179.25.

Virtus Investment Partners Stock Up 0.3 %

NASDAQ:VRTS traded up $0.56 on Monday, hitting $159.79. 37,036 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 40,135. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $165.33 and a 200-day moving average price of $200.14. Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.18 and a 52 week high of $252.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 11.86 and a quick ratio of 11.86. The company has a market cap of $1.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.45 and a beta of 1.36.

Virtus Investment Partners (NASDAQ:VRTS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The closed-end fund reported $5.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.68 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $217.93 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $201.99 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 prior year, the business posted $5.41 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. will post 27.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Virtus Investment Partners Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be issued a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.63%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. Virtus Investment Partners's payout ratio is presently 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.