HighTower Advisors LLC Purchases 205 Shares of Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRTS)

HighTower Advisors LLC grew its position in Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRTS) by 21.5% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,157 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after acquiring an additional 205 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Virtus Investment Partners were worth $242,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Virtus Investment Partners by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 328,067 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $74,092,000 after acquiring an additional 8,393 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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 valued at $53,522,000 after purchasing an additional 16,586 shares during the period. WCM Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 4.0% in the third quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 113,892 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $23,670,000 after purchasing an additional 4,359 shares in the last quarter. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. boosted its position in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 12.4% during the third quarter. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 110,429 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $23,129,000 after buying an additional 12,193 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 1.0% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 98,626 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $20,657,000 after buying an additional 947 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRTS has been the topic of several research reports. Barclays boosted their target price on Virtus Investment Partners from $212.00 to $239.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Virtus Investment Partners from $224.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Virtus Investment Partners from $264.00 to $274.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Virtus Investment Partners from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $247.00.

Virtus Investment Partners Stock Up 1.4 %

NASDAQ:VRTS opened at $223.50 on Wednesday. Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. has a twelve month low of $190.42 and a twelve month high of $263.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.59 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a quick ratio of 11.86, a current ratio of 11.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $233.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $220.95.

Virtus Investment Partners Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. Virtus Investment Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.71%.

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.