Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) Trading Up 6% – What’s Next?

Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT)’s share price was up 6% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $135.09 and last traded at $133.18. Approximately 3,736,421 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 29% from the average daily volume of 5,246,454 shares. The stock had previously closed at $125.67.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VRT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Vertiv in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $142.00 target price for the company. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Vertiv from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Fox Advisors initiated coverage on shares of Vertiv in a research report on Monday. They issued an “equal weight” rating for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Vertiv from $124.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Mizuho raised 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. 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 data from MarketBeat, Vertiv has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $140.92.

Vertiv Price Performance

The business’s 50 day moving average price is $122.82 and its 200 day moving average price is $100.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $50.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 89.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 net margin of 7.72% and a return on equity of 55.33%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 19.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.52 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Vertiv Holdings Co will post 2.69 EPS for the current year.

Vertiv Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 19th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were given a $0.0375 dividend. This is a positive change from Vertiv’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.03. This represents a $0.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 3rd. Vertiv’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.67%.

Insider Transactions at Vertiv

In other Vertiv news, Director Jakki L. Haussler sold 15,347 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $470,526.50. This represents a 81.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Anand Sanghi sold 30,914 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.46, for a total transaction of $4,373,094.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,751,114.08. The trade was a 61.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 171,527 shares of company stock valued at $23,105,682. 5.01% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Vertiv

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