California State Teachers Retirement System Reduces Holdings in Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRTS)

California State Teachers Retirement System trimmed its holdings in shares of Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRTS) by 1.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,936 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after selling 167 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System owned about 0.12% of Virtus Investment Partners worth $1,701,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of VRTS. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 68,002 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Virtus Investment Partners in the 4th quarter worth approximately $12,827,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Virtus Investment Partners by 5.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 896,632 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $215,182,000 after acquiring an additional 48,669 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. grew its stake in Virtus Investment Partners by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 1,188,513 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $285,232,000 after acquiring an additional 27,115 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Virtus Investment Partners by 26.9% in the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 116,783 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $22,234,000 after acquiring an additional 24,754 shares during the period. 80.85% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on VRTS shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Virtus Investment Partners from $159.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 31st. StockNews.com cut shares of Virtus Investment Partners from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 24th.

Virtus Investment Partners Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of VRTS opened at $204.27 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.48 billion, a PE ratio of 11.14 and a beta of 1.58. The company’s fifty day moving average is $203.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $194.58. Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $141.80 and a fifty-two week high of $248.23.

Virtus Investment Partners (NASDAQ:VRTS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 28th. The closed-end fund reported $5.43 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.89 by ($0.46). The company had revenue of $190.56 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $197.28 million. Virtus Investment Partners had a net margin of 16.58% and a return on equity of 18.32%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. will post 22.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Virtus Investment Partners Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 31st will be issued a $1.90 dividend. This represents a $7.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 30th. This is a positive change from Virtus Investment Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.65. Virtus Investment Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.01%.

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.