Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRTS) Shares Purchased by GAMMA Investing LLC

GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRTS) by 8,517.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,894 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,814 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC owned approximately 0.10% of Virtus Investment Partners worth $1,188,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. 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 buying an additional 3,309 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Virtus Investment Partners by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 38,339 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $8,457,000 after buying an additional 1,377 shares in the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its stake in Virtus Investment Partners by 8.3% in the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 1,300 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $287,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd lifted its stake in Virtus Investment Partners by 46.7% in the 4th quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 3,261 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $719,000 after buying an additional 1,038 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Virtus Investment Partners by 27.2% in the 4th quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 2,388 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $527,000 after buying an additional 510 shares in the last quarter. 80.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen decreased their price target 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. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of 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. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Virtus Investment Partners from $149.00 to $152.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Barclays set a $150.00 target price on shares of Virtus Investment Partners and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Virtus Investment Partners from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $167.75.

Virtus Investment Partners Trading Down 2.1%

VRTS opened at $173.76 on Monday. 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 company’s 50 day simple moving average is $163.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $187.64. Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.18 and a 1-year high of $252.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.28 and a beta of 1.45.

Virtus Investment Partners (NASDAQ:VRTS) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The closed-end fund reported $5.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.68 by $0.05. Virtus Investment Partners had a net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 21.56%. The business had revenue of $217.93 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $201.99 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $5.41 EPS. Analysts expect that Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. will post 27.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Virtus Investment Partners Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 31st will be issued a dividend of $2.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.18%. Virtus Investment Partners’s dividend payout ratio is currently 53.41%.

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.