R Squared Ltd Buys New Position in Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRTS)

R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRTS) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 340 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock, valued at approximately $75,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Jane Street Group LLC increased its holdings in Virtus Investment Partners by 592.0% in the 3rd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 9,218 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $1,931,000 after acquiring an additional 7,886 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 2.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 145,386 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $30,451,000 after purchasing an additional 3,651 shares in the last quarter. Private Client Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Virtus Investment Partners during the 4th quarter valued at $799,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Virtus Investment Partners during the 3rd quarter valued at $482,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Virtus Investment Partners by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 255,536 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $53,522,000 after buying an additional 16,586 shares during the period. 80.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on VRTS shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Virtus Investment Partners from $224.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com downgraded Virtus Investment Partners from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Virtus Investment Partners from $274.00 to $258.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Virtus Investment Partners from $239.00 to $221.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $238.50.

Virtus Investment Partners Price Performance

Shares of Virtus Investment Partners stock opened at $198.64 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.39 billion, a PE ratio of 12.08 and a beta of 1.48. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $224.75 and a 200 day moving average of $219.24. The company has a current ratio of 11.86, a quick ratio of 11.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. has a 12 month low of $190.42 and a 12 month high of $263.39.

Virtus Investment Partners Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a dividend of $2.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.53%. Virtus Investment Partners’s payout ratio is currently 54.71%.

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.