Virtus Investment Partners (NASDAQ:VRTS) Shares Gap Down to $230.75

Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRTS)’s share price gapped down prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $230.75, but opened at $217.96. Virtus Investment Partners shares last traded at $230.46, with a volume of 1,079 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen downgraded shares of Virtus Investment Partners from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $285.00 to $264.00 in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Virtus Investment Partners from $264.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Virtus Investment Partners from $211.00 to $224.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Virtus Investment Partners from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th.

Virtus Investment Partners Trading Down 1.4 %

The company has a market cap of $1.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.96 and a beta of 1.52. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $235.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $221.29.

Virtus Investment Partners (NASDAQ:VRTS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The closed-end fund reported $6.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.96 by $0.15. Virtus Investment Partners had a net margin of 15.45% and a return on equity of 18.83%. The company had revenue of $214.59 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $196.20 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $5.17 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. will post 27.04 EPS for the current year.

Virtus Investment Partners Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be issued a dividend of $1.90 per share. This represents a $7.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 29th. Virtus Investment Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.91%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quadrature Capital Ltd lifted its position in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 230.7% during the 3rd quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 14,888 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $3,007,000 after buying an additional 10,386 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Virtus Investment Partners by 106.9% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 22,828 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $5,519,000 after purchasing an additional 11,792 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Virtus Investment Partners by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 94,366 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $19,061,000 after purchasing an additional 4,600 shares during the period. Mariner LLC boosted its stake in Virtus Investment Partners by 12.2% during the 3rd quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 2,432 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $491,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in Virtus Investment Partners by 550.0% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 182 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.52% of the company’s stock.

Virtus Investment Partners Company 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.