Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. Increases Stake in Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRTS)

Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. lifted its position in Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRTS) by 12.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 110,429 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,193 shares during the period. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C.’s holdings in Virtus Investment Partners were worth $23,129,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 2.6% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 328,067 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $74,092,000 after purchasing an additional 8,393 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 6.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 255,536 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $53,522,000 after buying an additional 16,586 shares during the period. WCM Investment Management LLC raised its stake in 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 worth $23,670,000 after buying an additional 4,359 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Virtus Investment Partners by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 98,626 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $20,657,000 after acquiring an additional 947 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 68,376 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $14,321,000 after acquiring an additional 640 shares during the period. 80.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Virtus Investment Partners from $264.00 to $274.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Virtus Investment Partners from $208.00 to $217.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. StockNews.com lowered Virtus Investment Partners from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Virtus Investment Partners in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $206.00 price target on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $236.00.

Virtus Investment Partners Price Performance

VRTS opened at $246.97 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 11.86 and a current ratio of 11.86. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $222.95 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $220.01. Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. has a 52-week low of $190.42 and a 52-week high of $263.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.01 and a beta of 1.45.

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.