Principal Financial Group Inc. Increases Holdings in Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRTS)

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRTS) by 3.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 39,629 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after buying an additional 1,290 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.57% of Virtus Investment Partners worth $6,830,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Trexquant Investment LP bought a new position in Virtus Investment Partners in the 4th quarter worth $209,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp bought a new position in Virtus Investment Partners in the 4th quarter worth $249,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Virtus Investment Partners in the 4th quarter worth $280,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in Virtus Investment Partners in the 4th quarter worth $353,000. Finally, Magnetar Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Virtus Investment Partners by 42.8% in the 4th quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC now owns 1,767 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $390,000 after buying an additional 530 shares during the period. 80.52% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on VRTS. Barclays set a $150.00 target price on shares of Virtus Investment Partners and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Morgan Stanley set a $171.00 price objective on shares of Virtus Investment Partners and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Virtus Investment Partners from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Virtus Investment Partners from $220.00 to $158.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of 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, one has assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $172.50.

Virtus Investment Partners Trading Down 0.9%

NASDAQ:VRTS opened at $201.61 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $179.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $180.71. The stock has a market cap of $1.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.93 and a beta of 1.44. Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.18 and a 1 year high of $252.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 11.86 and a current ratio of 11.86.

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

Virtus Investment Partners Dividend Announcement

The business 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 $2.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.46%. Virtus Investment Partners’s dividend payout ratio is presently 53.41%.

Virtus Investment Partners 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.