Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) Stock Price Up 0.6% – Should You Buy?

Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT)’s stock price shot up 0.6% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $119.57 and last traded at $118.50. 779,149 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 90% from the average session volume of 8,053,485 shares. The stock had previously closed at $117.74.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on VRT shares. Barclays assumed coverage on Vertiv in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $142.00 price target on the stock. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Vertiv from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Vertiv in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $155.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Vertiv from $124.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Vertiv from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $140.09.

Vertiv Price Performance

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 stock has a market capitalization of $44.57 billion, a PE ratio of 79.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.61. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $121.66 and its 200 day moving average price is $99.11.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $2.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.98 billion. Vertiv had a return on equity of 55.33% and a net margin of 7.72%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 19.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.52 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Vertiv Holdings Co will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Vertiv Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 19th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were given a dividend of $0.0375 per share. 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. This represents a $0.15 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.13%. Vertiv’s payout ratio is presently 6.67%.

Insider Transactions at Vertiv

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 completion of the sale, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Jakki L. Haussler sold 15,347 shares of Vertiv stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 3,425 shares in the company, valued at approximately $470,526.50. The trade was a 81.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 171,527 shares of company stock valued at $23,105,682 in the last quarter. Insiders own 5.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Vertiv by 10,825.0% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,600,415 shares of the company’s stock valued at $457,695,000 after acquiring an additional 4,558,306 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA purchased a new stake in shares of Vertiv during the second quarter valued at approximately $331,091,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Vertiv by 271.0% in 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. Castle Hook Partners LP increased its stake in shares of Vertiv by 215.6% in the third quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 1,864,426 shares of the company’s stock worth $185,492,000 after buying an additional 1,273,746 shares during the period. Finally, Whale Rock Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Vertiv during the 3rd quarter valued at $110,517,000. 89.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.