Virtus Investment Partners (NASDAQ:VRTS) Stock Gets Price Target Reduction from Piper Sandler

Virtus Investment Partners (NASDAQ:VRTS) had its price target trimmed by Piper Sandler from $172.00 to $146.00 in a research note released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the closed-end fund’s stock.

VRTS has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Virtus Investment Partners from $135.00 to $117.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 14th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Virtus Investment Partners from $130.00 to $120.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 25th. Zacks Research cut shares of Virtus Investment Partners from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 14th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Virtus Investment Partners from $155.00 to $136.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $129.75.

Virtus Investment Partners Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VRTS opened at $119.48 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $791.32 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.07 and a beta of 1.41. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $144.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $146.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 11.86 and a quick ratio of 11.86. Virtus Investment Partners has a fifty-two week low of $117.44 and a fifty-two week high of $183.04.

Virtus Investment Partners Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 30th will be issued a $2.45 dividend. This represents a $9.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.2%. This is an increase from Virtus Investment Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.40. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 30th. Virtus Investment Partners’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.84%.

Insider Transactions at Virtus Investment Partners

In related news, Director W. Morris sold 435 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.59, for a total transaction of $60,286.65. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Michael A. Angerthal sold 14,975 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.34, for a total transaction of $2,505,916.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 63,461 shares in the company, valued at $10,619,563.74. This trade represents a 19.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of VRTS. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Virtus Investment Partners during the 2nd quarter worth about $151,624,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Virtus Investment Partners in the 2nd quarter valued at about $10,148,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in shares of Virtus Investment Partners in the 2nd quarter valued at about $4,867,000. AWH Capital L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Virtus Investment Partners in the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,550,477. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Virtus Investment Partners in the second quarter valued at about $3,255,000. Institutional investors own 80.52% of the company’s stock.

Virtus Investment Partners Company Profile

Virtus Investment Partners, Inc is an asset management company that provides investment products and services to individual and institutional investors. The company operates as a multi-boutique investment firm, partnering with affiliated and unaffiliated investment managers that offer specialized expertise across a range of asset classes and investment strategies.

Virtus distributes mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, separately managed accounts, closed-end funds and other investment solutions.