Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) Shares Up 4.4% – Here’s Why

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America raised their price target on Vertiv from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Vertiv from $150.00 to $145.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Vertiv in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $155.00 target price for the company. Citigroup increased their price target on Vertiv from $141.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Barclays initiated coverage on Vertiv in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $142.00 price objective for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Vertiv has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $141.75.

Vertiv Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $127.76 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $104.99. The company has a market cap of $54.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 97.35, a PEG ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.63.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $2.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.98 billion. Vertiv had a return on equity of 55.33% and a net margin of 7.72%. The company’s revenue was up 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.52 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Vertiv Holdings Co will post 2.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vertiv Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Vertiv

In other news, Director Jan Van Dokkum sold 38,647 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.39, for a total transaction of $5,271,064.33. Following the sale, the director now owns 25,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,409,750. This represents a 60.72 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Stephen Liang sold 86,619 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.07, for a total transaction of $11,353,152.33. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 have sold 171,527 shares of company stock worth $23,105,682. Corporate insiders own 5.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Vertiv

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in Vertiv by 10,825.0% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,600,415 shares of the company’s stock valued at $457,695,000 after purchasing an additional 4,558,306 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Vertiv by 271.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,915,446 shares of the company’s stock worth $389,548,000 after acquiring an additional 2,860,181 shares during the last quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP raised its stake in Vertiv by 215.6% in the 3rd quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 1,864,426 shares of the company’s stock valued at $185,492,000 after acquiring an additional 1,273,746 shares during the period. Whale Rock Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Vertiv during the 3rd quarter valued at $110,517,000. Finally, Blue Whale Capital LLP bought a new position in Vertiv during the third quarter worth $93,481,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.92% of the company’s stock.

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.