Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) Trading Up 4.4% – Here’s What Happened

Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT) was up 4.4% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $154.79 and last traded at $149.38. Approximately 4,327,371 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 27% from the average daily volume of 5,918,340 shares. The stock had previously closed at $143.13.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on VRT. Bank of America raised their price target on Vertiv from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Vertiv in a research report on Monday, January 6th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $150.00 target price for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Vertiv from $126.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Vertiv from $121.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, UBS Group assumed coverage on Vertiv in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $155.00 target price on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Vertiv has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $141.75.

Vertiv Trading Down 4.9 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.38. The company has a market capitalization of $54.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 97.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $127.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $104.99.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $2.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.98 billion. Vertiv had a net margin of 7.72% and a return on equity of 55.33%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.52 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Vertiv Holdings Co will post 2.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Vertiv Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 19th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.0375 per share. This represents a $0.15 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.10%. This is a positive change from Vertiv’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.03. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 3rd. Vertiv’s payout ratio is currently 6.67%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Vertiv news, Director Jakki L. Haussler sold 15,347 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.38, for a total transaction of $2,108,370.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 3,425 shares in the company, valued at $470,526.50. This trade represents a 81.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Stephen Liang sold 86,619 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.07, for a total value of $11,353,152.33. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 19,551 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,562,549.57. This represents a 81.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 171,527 shares of company stock worth $23,105,682. 5.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vertiv

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRT. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its holdings in shares of Vertiv by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,126 shares of the company’s stock worth $128,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Vertiv by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,234 shares of the company’s stock worth $254,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Vertiv by 25.1% in the third quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 458 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in shares of Vertiv by 18.6% in the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 638 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. lifted its position in Vertiv by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 13,125 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,305,000 after buying an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. 89.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Vertiv Company Profile

Vertiv Holdings Co, together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, and services critical digital infrastructure technologies and life cycle services for data centers, communication networks, and commercial and industrial environments in the Americas, the Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.