First Trust Advisors LP Purchases 5,684 Shares of Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRTS)

First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRTS - Free Report) by 49.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,262 shares of the closed-end fund's stock after purchasing an additional 5,684 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned 0.25% of Virtus Investment Partners worth $3,808,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Virtus Investment Partners during the 4th quarter worth about $9,503,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew 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 during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 33.6% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 81,738 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $18,030,000 after buying an additional 20,544 shares during the last quarter. Zacks Investment Management purchased a new position in shares of Virtus Investment Partners in the 4th quarter worth $3,124,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Virtus Investment Partners by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 158,028 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $34,858,000 after acquiring an additional 12,642 shares during the last quarter. 80.52% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Virtus Investment Partners from $216.00 to $211.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. TD Cowen cut 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 upped their price target on shares of Virtus Investment Partners from $149.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays set a $150.00 price objective on 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 analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $167.75.

Virtus Investment Partners Stock Up 1.1 %

Virtus Investment Partners stock traded up $1.75 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $161.85. The stock had a trading volume of 3,800 shares, compared to its average volume of 39,998. 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 business has a fifty day moving average price of $163.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $199.15. Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.18 and a 12 month high of $252.82. The stock has a market cap of $1.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.58 and a beta of 1.47.

Virtus Investment Partners (NASDAQ:VRTS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The closed-end fund reported $5.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.68 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $217.93 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 period in the prior year, the company posted $5.41 EPS. Research analysts predict that Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. will post 27.7 EPS for the current year.

Virtus Investment Partners Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be issued a $2.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.56%. Virtus Investment Partners's dividend payout ratio is currently 53.41%.

Virtus Investment Partners Company 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.