Contrasting Virtus Investment Partners (VRTS) and Its Competitors

Virtus Investment Partners (NASDAQ:VRTS) is one of 1,744 publicly-traded companies in the “Capital Markets” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its rivals? We will compare Virtus Investment Partners to related businesses based on the strength of its valuation, profitability, earnings, dividends, risk, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares Virtus Investment Partners and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Virtus Investment Partners	13.42%	21.56%	5.27%
Virtus Investment Partners Competitors	318.34%	79.19%	3.72%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

80.5% of Virtus Investment Partners shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 30.5% of shares of all “Capital Markets” companies are held by institutional investors. 6.4% of Virtus Investment Partners shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 13.0% of shares of all “Capital Markets” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Virtus Investment Partners and its rivals revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Virtus Investment Partners	$819.58 million	$121.75 million	7.10
Virtus Investment Partners Competitors	$5.22 billion	$399.10 million	17.59

Virtus Investment Partners’ rivals have higher revenue and earnings than Virtus Investment Partners. Virtus Investment Partners is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Virtus Investment Partners and its rivals, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Virtus Investment Partners	3	1	1	0	1.60
Virtus Investment Partners Competitors	5551	20124	22459	642	2.37

Virtus Investment Partners presently has a consensus price target of $129.75, indicating a potential upside of 4.13%. As a group, “Capital Markets” companies have a potential upside of 24.48%. Given Virtus Investment Partners’ rivals stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Virtus Investment Partners has less favorable growth aspects than its rivals.

Dividends

Virtus Investment Partners pays an annual dividend of $9.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.9%. Virtus Investment Partners pays out 55.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Capital Markets” companies pay a dividend yield of 3.2% and pay out 30.0% of their earnings in the form of a dividend.

Volatility and Risk

Virtus Investment Partners has a beta of 1.44, suggesting that its share price is 44% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Virtus Investment Partners’ rivals have a beta of 0.82, suggesting that their average share price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Virtus Investment Partners rivals beat Virtus Investment Partners on 11 of the 15 factors compared.

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. It invests in the public equity, fixed income, and real estate markets. The firm also invests in exchange traded funds. It employs a multi manager approach for its products. The firm employs quantitative analysis to make its investments. It benchmarks the performance of its portfolios against the S&P 500 Index. The firm conducts in-house research to make its investments. Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. was founded in 1988 and is based in Hartford, Connecticut.