City Center Advisors LLC Purchases New Position in Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRTS)

City Center Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRTS) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,509 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock, valued at approximately $316,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Virtus Investment Partners during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Algert Global LLC lifted its holdings in Virtus Investment Partners by 99.0% during the second quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 16,659 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $3,762,000 after purchasing an additional 8,288 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Virtus Investment Partners in the second quarter valued at about $289,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 4.0% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 3,496 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $790,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its position in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 14.6% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 28,113 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $6,349,000 after purchasing an additional 3,589 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.52% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on VRTS shares. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Virtus Investment Partners from $267.00 to $264.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on Virtus Investment Partners from $250.00 to $247.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Virtus Investment Partners from $213.00 to $208.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Virtus Investment Partners in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $206.00 target price for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Virtus Investment Partners has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $231.25.

Virtus Investment Partners Stock Performance

Shares of Virtus Investment Partners stock opened at $205.37 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $205.80 and its 200 day moving average price is $221.39. The company has a market cap of $1.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.37 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 15.18 and a current ratio of 15.18. Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. has a one year low of $168.78 and a one year high of $263.39.

Virtus Investment Partners (NASDAQ:VRTS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 26th. The closed-end fund reported $6.53 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $6.61 by ($0.08). Virtus Investment Partners had a net margin of 12.41% and a return on equity of 20.35%. The firm had revenue of $203.02 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $204.71 million. On average, research analysts predict that Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. will post 25.9 EPS for the current year.

Virtus Investment Partners Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be issued a dividend of $2.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.38%. This is an increase from Virtus Investment Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.90. Virtus Investment Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.22%.

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.