Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) Trading 4.1% Higher – Still a Buy?

Shares of Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT) rose 4.1% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $144.00 and last traded at $143.18. Approximately 3,597,217 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 56% from the average daily volume of 8,189,921 shares. The stock had previously closed at $137.54.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group initiated coverage on Vertiv in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $155.00 price target for the company. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Vertiv from $121.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Vertiv from $126.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Vertiv from $124.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Vertiv from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, Vertiv currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $138.50.

Vertiv Stock Performance

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 stock has a market cap of $54.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 95.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.58. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $108.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $94.57.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $2.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.98 billion. Vertiv had a net margin of 7.72% and a return on equity of 55.33%. The company’s revenue was up 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.52 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Vertiv Holdings Co will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Vertiv Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 19th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be given a $0.0375 dividend. This represents a $0.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.10%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. This is a positive change from Vertiv’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.03. Vertiv’s payout ratio is 6.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Karsten Winther sold 44,924 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.99, for a total transaction of $3,593,470.76. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 10,542 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $843,254.58. This represents a 80.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 5.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. ORG Partners LLC grew its position in Vertiv by 25.1% in the 3rd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 458 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake in Vertiv by 18.6% in the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 638 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. boosted its stake in Vertiv by 0.9% in the third quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 13,125 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,305,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. Nvwm LLC boosted its stake in Vertiv by 1.3% in the third quarter. Nvwm LLC now owns 10,035 shares of the company’s stock valued at $998,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Callan Family Office LLC boosted its stake in Vertiv by 0.9% in the third quarter. Callan Family Office LLC now owns 14,989 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,491,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.92% of the company’s stock.

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.