Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. $VRTS Shares Purchased by WCM Investment Management LLC

WCM Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRTS) by 22.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 125,078 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after acquiring an additional 22,900 shares during the quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC owned 1.81% of Virtus Investment Partners worth $22,913,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted 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 during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 38.5% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 113,192 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $19,510,000 after purchasing an additional 31,454 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 1.4% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 107,639 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $18,553,000 after purchasing an additional 1,535 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 1.1% during the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 94,674 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $16,318,000 after purchasing an additional 1,026 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 4.8% during the first quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 63,830 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $11,002,000 after purchasing an additional 2,940 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.52% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VRTS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Virtus Investment Partners from $211.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Virtus Investment Partners from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Virtus Investment Partners from $150.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $190.50.

Virtus Investment Partners Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ VRTS opened at $191.52 on Thursday. Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.18 and a 1 year high of $252.82. The firm has a market cap of $1.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.33 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 11.86 and a current ratio of 11.86. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $193.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $181.89.

Virtus Investment Partners (NASDAQ:VRTS) last announced its earnings results on Friday, July 25th. The closed-end fund reported $6.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.17 by $0.08. Virtus Investment Partners had a return on equity of 21.56% and a net margin of 13.42%.The business had revenue of $210.53 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $191.90 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $6.53 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate 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 announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 31st. This is a positive change from Virtus Investment Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.0%. Virtus Investment Partners’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.74%.

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.