Nuveen Municipal Value Fund (NYSE:NUV – Get Free Report) and Virtus Investment Partners (NASDAQ:VRTS – Get Free Report) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, dividends, profitability, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings and analyst recommendations.
Earnings and Valuation
This table compares Nuveen Municipal Value Fund and Virtus Investment Partners”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Nuveen Municipal Value Fund | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Virtus Investment Partners | $819.58 million | 1.35 | $121.75 million | $17.55 | 9.54 |
Volatility & Risk
Nuveen Municipal Value Fund has a beta of 0.38, suggesting that its share price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Virtus Investment Partners has a beta of 1.37, suggesting that its share price is 37% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Analyst Ratings
This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Nuveen Municipal Value Fund and Virtus Investment Partners, as provided by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Nuveen Municipal Value Fund | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Virtus Investment Partners | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1.80 |
Virtus Investment Partners has a consensus price target of $145.50, indicating a potential downside of 13.11%. Given Virtus Investment Partners’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Virtus Investment Partners is more favorable than Nuveen Municipal Value Fund.
Profitability
This table compares Nuveen Municipal Value Fund and Virtus Investment Partners’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Nuveen Municipal Value Fund | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Virtus Investment Partners | 13.42% | 21.56% | 5.27% |
Dividends
Nuveen Municipal Value Fund pays an annual dividend of $0.13 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Virtus Investment Partners pays an annual dividend of $9.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.9%. Virtus Investment Partners pays out 55.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.
Institutional and Insider Ownership
22.5% of Nuveen Municipal Value Fund shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.5% of Virtus Investment Partners shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of Nuveen Municipal Value Fund shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.4% of Virtus Investment Partners shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Summary
Virtus Investment Partners beats Nuveen Municipal Value Fund on 11 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Nuveen Municipal Value Fund
Nuveen Municipal Value Fund, Inc. is a closed-ended fixed income mutual fund launched by Nuveen Investments, Inc. The fund is co-managed by Nuveen Fund Advisors LLC and Nuveen Asset Management, LLC. It invests in the fixed income markets of the United States. The fund also invests some portion of its portfolio in derivative instruments. It invests in undervalued municipal securities and other related investments the income, exempt from regular federal income taxes that are rated Baa or BBB or better. It employs fundamental analysis with bottom-up stock picking approach to create its portfolio. The fund benchmarks the performance of its portfolio against the Standard & Poor's (S&P) National Municipal Bond Index. Nuveen Municipal Value Fund, Inc. was formed on April 8, 1987 and is domiciled in the United States.
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. It invests in the public equity, fixed income, and real estate markets. The firm also invests in exchange traded funds. It employs a multi manager approach for its products. The firm employs quantitative analysis to make its investments. It benchmarks the performance of its portfolios against the S&P 500 Index. The firm conducts in-house research to make its investments. Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. was founded in 1988 and is based in Hartford, Connecticut.
Receive News & Ratings for Nuveen Municipal Value Fund Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Nuveen Municipal Value Fund and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.
