Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) Sees Strong Trading Volume – Still a Buy?

Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT) saw unusually-strong trading volume on Friday . Approximately 3,470,973 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 57% from the previous session’s volume of 8,096,930 shares.The stock last traded at $127.31 and had previously closed at $125.04.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on VRT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Vertiv from $124.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Vertiv from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Vertiv from $115.00 to $141.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Vertiv from $121.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Vertiv from $141.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $140.09.

Vertiv Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $46.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 82.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.61. 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 business’s 50-day simple moving average is $120.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $98.07.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.07. Vertiv had a net margin of 7.72% and a return on equity of 55.33%. The company had revenue of $2.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.98 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.52 EPS. Vertiv’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Vertiv Holdings Co will post 2.69 EPS for the current year.

Vertiv Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 19th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.0375 per share. This represents a $0.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.12%. This is a positive change from Vertiv’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.03. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. Vertiv’s payout ratio is presently 6.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Stephen Liang sold 86,619 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 19,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,562,549.57. This represents a 81.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Jakki L. Haussler sold 15,347 shares of Vertiv stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.38, for a total value of $2,108,370.86. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 3,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $470,526.50. This represents a 81.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 171,527 shares of company stock valued at $23,105,682. Corporate insiders own 5.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Vertiv

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Vertiv by 4.2% during 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Vertiv by 7.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,951,784 shares of the company’s stock valued at $592,433,000 after acquiring an additional 408,054 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in Vertiv by 10,825.0% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Vertiv by 271.0% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,915,446 shares of the company’s stock worth $389,548,000 after purchasing an additional 2,860,181 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA purchased a new position in shares of Vertiv in the 2nd quarter worth about $331,091,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.