DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale Has $143,000 Stake in Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRTS)

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lowered its position in shares of Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRTS) by 58.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 584 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after selling 825 shares during the quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale’s holdings in Virtus Investment Partners were worth $143,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quadrature Capital Ltd increased its stake in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 230.7% during the third quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 14,888 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $3,007,000 after purchasing an additional 10,386 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Virtus Investment Partners by 106.9% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 22,828 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $5,519,000 after acquiring an additional 11,792 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Virtus Investment Partners by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 94,366 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $19,061,000 after acquiring an additional 4,600 shares during the period. Mariner LLC increased its stake in Virtus Investment Partners by 12.2% during the 3rd quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 2,432 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $491,000 after acquiring an additional 265 shares during the period. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its stake in Virtus Investment Partners by 23.0% during the 3rd quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 3,043 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $615,000 after acquiring an additional 570 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.52% of the company’s stock.

Virtus Investment Partners Stock Performance

Shares of VRTS opened at $218.58 on Thursday. Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. has a 52-week low of $165.00 and a 52-week high of $263.39. The business’s fifty day moving average is $236.37 and its 200-day moving average is $219.99. The firm has a market cap of $1.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.34 and a beta of 1.52.

Virtus Investment Partners (NASDAQ:VRTS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 2nd. The closed-end fund reported $6.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $214.59 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $196.20 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.17 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. will post 26.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Virtus Investment Partners Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be issued a dividend of $1.90 per share. This represents a $7.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.48%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 29th. Virtus Investment Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.91%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on VRTS. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Virtus Investment Partners from $170.00 to $199.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 19th. StockNews.com lowered Virtus Investment Partners from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. TD Cowen lowered Virtus Investment Partners from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $285.00 to $264.00 in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Virtus Investment Partners from $264.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th.

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.