Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) Stock Price Down 12.4% on Analyst Downgrade

Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT) shares fell 12.4% during trading on Friday after Barclays lowered their price target on the stock from $100.00 to $90.00. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Vertiv traded as low as $55.32 and last traded at $59.13. 8,470,243 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 4% from the average session volume of 8,814,908 shares. The stock had previously closed at $67.47.

Several other brokerages have also commented on VRT. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Vertiv in a report on Monday, January 6th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $150.00 price target for the company. Fox Advisors assumed coverage on shares of Vertiv in a research note on Monday, January 6th. They set an “equal weight” rating for the company. Royal Bank of Canada started coverage on shares of Vertiv in a research report on Friday, March 7th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $121.00 price target for the company. Melius Research reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $125.00 price objective on shares of Vertiv in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their target price on Vertiv from $150.00 to $145.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Vertiv currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $134.67.

Institutional Trading of Vertiv

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Vertiv by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,356,089 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,130,415,000 after purchasing an additional 1,244,780 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Vertiv by 68.6% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 7,754,347 shares of the company’s stock valued at $880,971,000 after purchasing an additional 3,153,932 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Vertiv by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,635,081 shares of the company’s stock valued at $759,614,000 after buying an additional 308,704 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Vertiv by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,050,965 shares of the company’s stock worth $688,260,000 after buying an additional 99,181 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA purchased a new stake in shares of Vertiv during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $597,379,000. 89.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Vertiv Trading Down 11.9 %

The stock has a market cap of $22.63 billion, a PE ratio of 46.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.65. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $95.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $110.94.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.99 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.15. Vertiv had a return on equity of 61.41% and a net margin of 6.19%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.56 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Vertiv Holdings Co will post 3.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vertiv Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th were paid a dividend of $0.0375 per share. This represents a $0.15 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.25%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 18th. Vertiv’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.72%.

About Vertiv

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.