Appian Way Asset Management LP Purchases Shares of 87,000 Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT)

Appian Way Asset Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 87,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,656,000. Vertiv makes up about 1.9% of Appian Way Asset Management LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Vertiv by 10,825.0% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,600,415 shares of the company’s stock valued at $457,695,000 after purchasing an additional 4,558,306 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA purchased a new stake in Vertiv in the second quarter valued at $331,091,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP boosted its stake in Vertiv by 1.1% in the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 3,611,566 shares of the company’s stock valued at $359,315,000 after acquiring an additional 40,696 shares in the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Vertiv by 24.5% during the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 3,320,425 shares of the company’s stock worth $330,349,000 after purchasing an additional 652,436 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its position 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. 89.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Vertiv

In related news, EVP Stephen Liang sold 86,619 shares of Vertiv stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.07, for a total transaction of $11,353,152.33. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 19,551 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,562,549.57. The trade was a 81.59 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Karsten Winther sold 44,924 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 10,542 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $843,254.58. This trade represents a 80.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 216,451 shares of company stock worth $26,699,153. 5.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Vertiv Stock Performance

VRT opened at $127.62 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $114.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $96.34. The stock has a market cap of $47.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 85.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.58. Vertiv Holdings Co has a 1-year low of $42.50 and a 1-year high of $145.67. 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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $2.07 billion for 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%. Vertiv’s revenue was up 19.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.52 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Vertiv Holdings Co will post 2.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vertiv Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on VRT. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Vertiv from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Vertiv from $134.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Vertiv from $121.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Vertiv from $126.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Vertiv from $124.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $138.50.

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.