Virtus Investment Partners (NASDAQ:VRTS) PT Raised to $224.00 at Morgan Stanley

Virtus Investment Partners (NASDAQ:VRTS) had its target price upped by Morgan Stanley from $211.00 to $224.00 in a report issued on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an underweight rating on the closed-end fund’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the company. StockNews.com lowered Virtus Investment Partners from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Virtus Investment Partners from $264.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered Virtus Investment Partners from a buy rating to a hold rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $285.00 to $264.00 in a research report on Monday, April 8th.

Virtus Investment Partners Price Performance

VRTS opened at $224.91 on Wednesday. Virtus Investment Partners has a fifty-two week low of $165.00 and a fifty-two week high of $263.39. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $235.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $220.17. The company has a market capitalization of $1.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.70 and a beta of 1.52.

Virtus Investment Partners (NASDAQ:VRTS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The closed-end fund reported $6.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.96 by $0.15. Virtus Investment Partners had a return on equity of 18.83% and a net margin of 15.45%. The business had revenue of $214.59 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $196.20 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $5.17 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Virtus Investment Partners will post 26.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Virtus Investment Partners Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be paid a $1.90 dividend. This represents a $7.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 29th. Virtus Investment Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.91%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRTS. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC increased its position in Virtus Investment Partners by 87.1% during the 4th quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 146,100 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $27,969,000 after buying an additional 68,002 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Virtus Investment Partners during the 4th quarter worth $12,827,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Virtus Investment Partners by 5.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 896,632 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $215,182,000 after buying an additional 48,669 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 39.8% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 99,635 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $20,125,000 after purchasing an additional 28,359 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 1,188,513 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $285,232,000 after purchasing an additional 27,115 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.52% of the company’s stock.

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.