Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRTS) Shares Sold by Arizona State Retirement System

Arizona State Retirement System reduced its holdings in shares of Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRTS) by 2.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,028 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after selling 47 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Virtus Investment Partners were worth $490,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC grew its stake in Virtus Investment Partners by 87.1% during the 4th quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 146,100 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $27,969,000 after purchasing an additional 68,002 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Virtus Investment Partners during the 4th quarter valued at about $12,827,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Virtus Investment Partners by 5.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 896,632 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $215,182,000 after purchasing an additional 48,669 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Virtus Investment Partners by 39.8% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 99,635 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $20,125,000 after purchasing an additional 28,359 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BlackRock Inc. grew its stake in Virtus Investment Partners by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 1,188,513 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $285,232,000 after purchasing an additional 27,115 shares during the last quarter. 80.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Virtus Investment Partners from $264.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. StockNews.com downgraded Virtus Investment Partners from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Virtus Investment Partners from $211.00 to $224.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, TD Cowen downgraded Virtus Investment Partners from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $285.00 to $264.00 in a research note on Monday, April 8th.

Virtus Investment Partners Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of VRTS opened at $224.91 on Friday. Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. has a 52 week low of $165.00 and a 52 week high of $263.39. The company has a market capitalization of $1.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.70 and a beta of 1.52. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $235.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $220.17.

Virtus Investment Partners (NASDAQ:VRTS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The closed-end fund reported $6.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.96 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $214.59 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $196.20 million. Virtus Investment Partners had a return on equity of 18.83% and a net margin of 15.45%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.17 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. will post 26.89 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a $1.90 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 29th. This represents a $7.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.38%. Virtus Investment Partners’s payout ratio is 42.91%.

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.