Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) Trading Up 1.4% – Time to Buy?

Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT) shares rose 1.4% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $143.48 and last traded at $137.79. Approximately 2,204,520 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 61% from the average daily volume of 5,613,764 shares. The stock had previously closed at $135.88.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group began coverage on Vertiv in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $155.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Vertiv in a report on Monday, January 6th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $150.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays began coverage on shares of Vertiv in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $142.00 target price for the company. Citigroup upped 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. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Vertiv from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $141.75.

Vertiv Stock Up 3.3 %

The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $127.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $104.65. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The company has a market capitalization of $57.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 102.31, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.63.

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

Vertiv Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 19th. Shareholders 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 boost from Vertiv’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.03. Vertiv’s payout ratio is currently 6.67%.

Insider Transactions at Vertiv

In related news, insider Anand Sanghi sold 30,914 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.46, for a total transaction of $4,373,094.44. Following the sale, the insider now owns 19,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,751,114.08. This trade represents a 61.38 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Stephen Liang sold 86,619 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.07, for a total value 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 approximately $2,562,549.57. The trade was a 81.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 171,527 shares of company stock valued at $23,105,682. 5.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Vertiv by 4.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,635,081 shares of the company’s stock worth $759,614,000 after purchasing an additional 308,704 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings 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 period. Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 4,558,306 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake 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 valued at $389,548,000 after buying an additional 2,860,181 shares during the period. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP raised its position in shares of Vertiv by 1.1% during the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 3,611,566 shares of the company’s stock worth $359,315,000 after acquiring an additional 40,696 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.92% of the company’s stock.

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.