Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) Trading Up 3.6% – Here’s What Happened

Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT)’s stock price shot up 3.6% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $153.77 and last traded at $154.01. 2,199,139 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 63% from the average session volume of 6,016,892 shares. The stock had previously closed at $148.59.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Fox Advisors started coverage on Vertiv in a report on Monday, January 6th. They set an “equal weight” rating for the company. 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 note on Tuesday, November 19th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Vertiv from $141.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Vertiv from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Vertiv from $115.00 to $141.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $141.75.

Vertiv Stock Down 4.9 %

The firm has a market cap of $54.81 billion, a PE ratio of 97.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.63. 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 has a 50-day moving average price of $128.27 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $105.36.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $1.98 billion. Vertiv had a return on equity of 55.33% and a net margin of 7.72%. Vertiv’s revenue was up 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.52 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Vertiv Holdings Co will post 2.7 EPS for the current 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 paid a dividend of $0.0375 per share. This represents a $0.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.10%. This is a positive change from Vertiv’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.03. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 3rd. Vertiv’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Vertiv news, EVP Stephen Liang sold 86,619 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $11,353,152.33. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 19,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,562,549.57. This trade represents a 81.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Jakki L. Haussler sold 15,347 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.38, for a total transaction of $2,108,370.86. Following the sale, the director now 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. Insiders sold 171,527 shares of company stock worth $23,105,682 over the last 90 days. 5.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vertiv

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Vertiv by 68.6% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 7,754,347 shares of the company’s stock worth $880,971,000 after purchasing an additional 3,153,932 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 308,704 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Vertiv by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,951,784 shares of the company’s stock worth $592,433,000 after buying an additional 408,054 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position 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 buying an additional 2,860,181 shares during the period. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP lifted its stake in Vertiv by 1.1% in the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 3,611,566 shares of the company’s stock valued at $359,315,000 after buying an additional 40,696 shares during the last quarter. 89.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.