StockNews.com Downgrades Virtus Investment Partners (NASDAQ:VRTS) to Hold

StockNews.com cut shares of Virtus Investment Partners (NASDAQ:VRTS) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Monday.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on VRTS. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Virtus Investment Partners in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $206.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Virtus Investment Partners from $208.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $236.00.

Virtus Investment Partners Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ VRTS opened at $246.92 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 11.86 and a quick ratio of 11.86. The company has a market cap of $1.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.01 and a beta of 1.45. Virtus Investment Partners has a 1 year low of $190.42 and a 1 year high of $263.39. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $221.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $219.90.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Virtus Investment Partners

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of VRTS. Lombard Odier Asset Management Europe Ltd purchased a new position in Virtus Investment Partners during the second quarter valued at approximately $6,776,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Virtus Investment Partners by 78.1% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 50,952 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $11,508,000 after buying an additional 22,344 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in 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. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. increased its holdings in 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 valued at $23,129,000 after buying an additional 12,193 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in Virtus Investment Partners during the second quarter valued at approximately $2,553,000. 80.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.