Exchange Traded Concepts LLC Increases Stock Position in Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. $VRTS

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its position in Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRTS) by 6.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,984 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after purchasing an additional 344 shares during the quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC owned 0.09% of Virtus Investment Partners worth $1,085,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Virtus Investment Partners in the first quarter valued at $9,639,000. Gator Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Virtus Investment Partners by 190.7% in the first quarter. Gator Capital Management LLC now owns 60,810 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $10,481,000 after acquiring an additional 39,895 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in Virtus Investment Partners by 38.5% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 113,192 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $19,510,000 after acquiring an additional 31,454 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Virtus Investment Partners by 8.3% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 299,961 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $51,701,000 after acquiring an additional 23,081 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Transcend Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Virtus Investment Partners in the first quarter valued at $1,204,000. 80.52% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRTS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley set a $171.00 price target on shares of Virtus Investment Partners and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Virtus Investment Partners from $211.00 to $234.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Virtus Investment Partners from $150.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $188.25.

Virtus Investment Partners Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VRTS opened at $191.00 on Tuesday. Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.18 and a twelve 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. The company has a 50-day moving average of $197.32 and a 200-day moving average of $180.15. The firm has a market cap of $1.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.30 and a beta of 1.44.

Virtus Investment Partners (NASDAQ:VRTS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 25th. The closed-end fund reported $6.25 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $210.53 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $191.90 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $6.53 EPS. Analysts forecast that Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. will post 27.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Virtus Investment Partners Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 31st will be given a dividend of $2.40 per share. This is a positive change from Virtus Investment Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 31st. This represents a $9.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.0%. Virtus Investment Partners’s payout ratio is 46.74%.

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.