Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) Trading 0.1% Higher – Still a Buy?

Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT) rose 0.1% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $131.68 and last traded at $127.10. Approximately 1,736,269 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 8,144,983 shares. The stock had previously closed at $127.01.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on VRT. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Vertiv from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “outperform” 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. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Vertiv from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Vertiv from $126.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, UBS Group started coverage on Vertiv in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $155.00 price target on the stock. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, Vertiv presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $138.50.

Vertiv Price Performance

The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $114.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $96.26. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $48.02 billion, a PE ratio of 84.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.61.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) last posted 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. The company had revenue of $2.07 billion during 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%. Vertiv’s quarterly revenue was up 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.52 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Vertiv Holdings Co will post 2.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vertiv Increases Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Vertiv

In related news, insider Anand Sanghi sold 30,914 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.46, for a total value of $4,373,094.44. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 19,448 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,751,114.08. This trade represents a 61.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Jakki L. Haussler sold 15,347 shares of Vertiv stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $470,526.50. This represents a 81.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 171,527 shares of company stock worth $23,105,682. Company insiders own 5.01% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vertiv

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Vertiv by 15.4% in the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,553,001 shares of the company’s stock valued at $221,013,000 after purchasing an additional 340,639 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. grew its position in Vertiv by 7.2% in the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 127,210 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,656,000 after purchasing an additional 8,579 shares in the last quarter. Janney Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Vertiv in the 3rd quarter valued at about $8,403,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Vertiv by 190.7% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 55,923 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,564,000 after buying an additional 36,684 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its stake in shares of Vertiv by 46.8% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 76,932 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,654,000 after buying an additional 24,526 shares during the period. 89.92% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.