Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. $VRTS Stock Position Raised by Trexquant Investment LP

Trexquant Investment LP lifted its position in Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRTS) by 56.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,481 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after acquiring an additional 534 shares during the quarter. Trexquant Investment LP’s holdings in Virtus Investment Partners were worth $255,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of VRTS. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 106,104 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $23,404,000 after acquiring an additional 9,793 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC grew its position in Virtus Investment Partners by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 9,872 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $2,178,000 after purchasing an additional 654 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 24,921 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $5,497,000 after acquiring an additional 228 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 30,246 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $6,672,000 after acquiring an additional 1,876 shares during the period. Finally, D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 43.3% during the 4th quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 7,802 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $1,721,000 after acquiring an additional 2,357 shares during the period. 80.52% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRTS has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Virtus Investment Partners from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Virtus Investment Partners from $211.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Morgan Stanley set a $171.00 price objective on shares of Virtus Investment Partners and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Virtus Investment Partners from $150.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $188.25.

Virtus Investment Partners Trading Down 0.7%

VRTS stock opened at $195.66 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 11.86 and a current ratio of 11.86. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $198.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $179.38. Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.18 and a 52 week high of $252.82. The company has a market capitalization of $1.32 billion, a PE ratio of 11.58 and a beta of 1.44.

Virtus Investment Partners (NASDAQ:VRTS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 25th. The closed-end fund reported $6.25 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.17 by $0.08. Virtus Investment Partners had a net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 21.56%. The business had revenue of $210.53 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $191.90 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $6.53 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. will post 27.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Virtus Investment Partners Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 31st will be paid a dividend of $2.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 31st. This is a positive change from Virtus Investment Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.9%. Virtus Investment Partners’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.74%.

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.