Virtus Investment Partners (NASDAQ:VRTS) Raised to “Buy” at StockNews.com

Virtus Investment Partners (NASDAQ:VRTS) was upgraded by StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Monday.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Virtus Investment Partners from $149.00 to $152.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on Virtus Investment Partners from $220.00 to $158.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Virtus Investment Partners from $216.00 to $211.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Barclays set a $150.00 price target on Virtus Investment Partners and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $167.75.

Virtus Investment Partners Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:VRTS traded down $0.78 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $176.80. The company had a trading volume of 34,312 shares, compared to its average volume of 40,570. Virtus Investment Partners has a 12 month low of $142.18 and a 12 month high of $252.82. The company has a current ratio of 11.86, a quick ratio of 11.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The stock has a market cap of $1.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.46 and a beta of 1.47. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $163.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $196.42.

Virtus Investment Partners (NASDAQ:VRTS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The closed-end fund reported $5.73 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.68 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $217.93 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $201.99 million. Virtus Investment Partners had a return on equity of 21.56% and a net margin of 13.42%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.41 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Virtus Investment Partners will post 27.7 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Virtus Investment Partners

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 158,028 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $34,858,000 after acquiring an additional 12,642 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 38.5% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 113,192 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $19,510,000 after acquiring an additional 31,454 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 1.4% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 107,639 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $18,553,000 after acquiring an additional 1,535 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 1.1% in the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 94,674 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $16,318,000 after acquiring an additional 1,026 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.52% of the company’s stock.

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.