Victory Capital (NASDAQ:VCTR) Sees Large Volume Increase on Analyst Upgrade

Victory Capital Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCTR) shares saw unusually-high trading volume on Wednesday after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock from $30.00 to $32.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an underweight rating on the stock. Approximately 209,405 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 41% from the previous session’s volume of 356,613 shares.The stock last traded at $44.72 and had previously closed at $44.62.

VCTR has been the topic of several other reports. B. Riley reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $48.00 target price (up from $40.00) on shares of Victory Capital in a research note on Friday, February 16th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Victory Capital from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Victory Capital from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Victory Capital from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $42.43.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Victory Capital by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,212,173 shares of the company’s stock worth $110,627,000 after purchasing an additional 104,746 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Victory Capital by 8.0% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 2,668,250 shares of the company’s stock worth $84,157,000 after acquiring an additional 196,857 shares during the period. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Victory Capital by 19.2% in the 3rd quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. now owns 1,815,741 shares of the company’s stock worth $60,537,000 after acquiring an additional 292,225 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Victory Capital by 9.7% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,489,403 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,297,000 after acquiring an additional 131,540 shares during the period. Finally, LSV Asset Management lifted its stake in shares of Victory Capital by 22.2% in the third quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,380,922 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,040,000 after purchasing an additional 250,600 shares during the period. 87.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Victory Capital Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The company’s 50 day moving average is $40.29 and its 200 day moving average is $35.32. The stock has a market cap of $2.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.66, a PEG ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 1.00.

Victory Capital (NASDAQ:VCTR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 9th. The company reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.02. Victory Capital had a net margin of 25.96% and a return on equity of 28.70%. The firm had revenue of $205.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $204.20 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.03 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Victory Capital Holdings, Inc. will post 5.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Victory Capital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 11th were issued a dividend of $0.335 per share. This is an increase from Victory Capital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 8th. Victory Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.81%.

Victory Capital Company Profile

Victory Capital Holdings, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an asset management company in the United States and internationally. It offers investment advisory, fund administration, fund compliance, fund transfer agent, fund distribution, and other management services. The company provides specialized investment strategies to institutions, intermediaries, retirement platforms, and individual investors.