Everence Capital Management Inc. Takes $222,000 Position in Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRTS)

Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRTS) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 920 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock, valued at approximately $222,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 2.3% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 1,188,513 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $285,232,000 after purchasing an additional 27,115 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 5.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 896,632 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $215,182,000 after purchasing an additional 48,669 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 7.5% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 286,767 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $54,593,000 after purchasing an additional 20,110 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 2.7% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 284,333 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $54,134,000 after purchasing an additional 7,502 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 4.9% in the first quarter. FMR LLC now owns 183,117 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $34,864,000 after purchasing an additional 8,542 shares during the last quarter. 80.52% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Virtus Investment Partners Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRTS opened at $224.91 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $235.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $220.17. Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. has a 1-year low of $165.00 and a 1-year high of $263.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.01 and a beta of 1.52.

Virtus Investment Partners (NASDAQ:VRTS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 2nd. The closed-end fund reported $6.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.96 by $0.15. Virtus Investment Partners had a return on equity of 18.83% and a net margin of 15.45%. The company had revenue of $214.59 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $196.20 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.17 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. will post 27.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Virtus Investment Partners Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be paid a dividend of $1.90 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 29th. This represents a $7.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.38%. Virtus Investment Partners’s dividend payout ratio is 42.91%.

Virtus Investment Partners 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.