StockNews.com lowered shares of Virtus Investment Partners (NASDAQ:VRTS - Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Monday morning.
Several other brokerages also recently commented on VRTS. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Virtus Investment Partners from $211.00 to $198.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Virtus Investment Partners from $220.00 to $158.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Barclays set a $150.00 target price on Virtus Investment Partners and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price target 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 issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Virtus Investment Partners has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $179.25.
View Our Latest Stock Report on Virtus Investment Partners
Virtus Investment Partners Trading Up 1.7 %
Shares of Virtus Investment Partners stock traded up $2.58 on Monday, hitting $159.06. 57,298 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 40,088. Virtus Investment Partners has a one year low of $142.18 and a one year 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 stock has a market capitalization of $1.10 billion, a PE ratio of 9.41 and a beta of 1.36. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $165.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $200.46.
Virtus Investment Partners (NASDAQ:VRTS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The closed-end fund reported $5.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.68 by $0.05. The firm 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.41 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Virtus Investment Partners will post 27.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Virtus Investment Partners Announces Dividend
The company 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 dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.66%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. Virtus Investment Partners's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.41%.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of VRTS. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Virtus Investment Partners by 2,902.6% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 733 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 2.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 145,386 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $30,451,000 after purchasing an additional 3,651 shares in the last quarter. Private Client Services LLC acquired a new position in Virtus Investment Partners during the fourth quarter worth $799,000. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its position in Virtus Investment Partners by 204.9% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 14,119 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $2,957,000 after purchasing an additional 9,488 shares in the last quarter. 80.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
About Virtus Investment Partners
(
Get Free Report)
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.
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