American Century Companies Inc. Grows Holdings in Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. $VRTS

American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRTS) by 38.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 113,192 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after acquiring an additional 31,454 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 1.63% of Virtus Investment Partners worth $19,510,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in VRTS. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 38.8% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 12,103 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $2,086,000 after purchasing an additional 3,381 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its stake in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 27.4% in the first quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 20,953 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $3,611,000 after acquiring an additional 4,500 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Virtus Investment Partners in the first quarter worth $9,639,000. Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new position in shares of Virtus Investment Partners in the first quarter worth $219,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 5.6% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 31,427 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $5,417,000 after acquiring an additional 1,653 shares in the last quarter. 80.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Virtus Investment Partners Price Performance

Virtus Investment Partners stock opened at $200.3080 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.85 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $193.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $178.35. Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.18 and a 12-month high of $252.82. The company has a current ratio of 11.86, a quick ratio of 11.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Virtus Investment Partners (NASDAQ:VRTS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 25th. The closed-end fund reported $6.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.17 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $210.53 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $191.90 million. Virtus Investment Partners had a net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 21.56%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $6.53 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. will post 27.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Virtus Investment Partners Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Investors of record on Friday, October 31st will be given a $2.40 dividend. This is a positive change from Virtus Investment Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 31st. This represents a $9.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.8%. Virtus Investment Partners’s payout ratio is 46.74%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley set a $171.00 price target on shares of Virtus Investment Partners and gave the stock 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. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Virtus Investment Partners from $211.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Virtus Investment Partners from $150.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Virtus Investment Partners presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $188.25.

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.