Virtus Investment Partners (NASDAQ:VRTS) Given New $224.00 Price Target at Morgan Stanley

Virtus Investment Partners (NASDAQ:VRTS) had its target price boosted by Morgan Stanley from $211.00 to $224.00 in a report published on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an underweight rating on the closed-end fund’s stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Virtus Investment Partners from $264.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. TD Cowen cut shares of Virtus Investment Partners from a buy rating to a hold rating and lowered their price target for the company from $285.00 to $264.00 in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Virtus Investment Partners from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th.

Virtus Investment Partners Price Performance

Virtus Investment Partners stock opened at $218.58 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $236.37 and its 200-day moving average is $219.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.57 billion, a PE ratio of 12.34 and a beta of 1.52. Virtus Investment Partners has a fifty-two week low of $165.00 and a fifty-two week high of $263.39.

Virtus Investment Partners (NASDAQ:VRTS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 2nd. The closed-end fund reported $6.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.96 by $0.15. Virtus Investment Partners had a return on equity of 18.83% and a net margin of 15.45%. The company had revenue of $214.59 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $196.20 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $5.17 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Virtus Investment Partners will post 26.89 EPS for the current year.

Virtus Investment Partners Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $1.90 per share. This represents a $7.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 29th. Virtus Investment Partners’s dividend payout ratio is 42.91%.

Institutional Trading of Virtus Investment Partners

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of VRTS. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 2.3% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 1,188,513 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $285,232,000 after buying an additional 27,115 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Virtus Investment Partners by 5.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 896,632 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $215,182,000 after acquiring an additional 48,669 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Virtus Investment Partners by 7.5% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 286,767 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $54,593,000 after acquiring an additional 20,110 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 284,333 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $54,134,000 after acquiring an additional 7,502 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 4.9% during the 1st quarter. FMR LLC now owns 183,117 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $34,864,000 after purchasing an additional 8,542 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.