Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) Trading Up 4% – Still a Buy?

Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT) shares rose 4% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $119.17 and last traded at $118.12. Approximately 1,499,886 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 81% from the average daily volume of 7,981,975 shares. The stock had previously closed at $113.61.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Vertiv from $141.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Vertiv in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $142.00 price target on the stock. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Vertiv from $121.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Vertiv from $124.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Vertiv in a research note on Monday, October 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price target for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $140.09.

Vertiv Stock Performance

The firm has a 50 day moving average of $122.38 and a two-hundred day moving average of $100.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The stock has a market cap of $43.81 billion, a PE ratio of 77.81, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.61.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.52 EPS. Research analysts predict that Vertiv Holdings Co will post 2.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vertiv Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 19th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were given a dividend of $0.0375 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $0.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.13%. This is a boost from Vertiv’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.03. Vertiv’s payout ratio is 6.67%.

Insider Activity at Vertiv

In other Vertiv news, EVP Stephen Liang sold 86,619 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.07, for a total transaction of $11,353,152.33. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,562,549.57. This trade represents a 81.59 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Anand Sanghi sold 30,914 shares of the business’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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,448 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,751,114.08. The trade was a 61.38 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 171,527 shares of company stock valued at $23,105,682 in the last three months. 5.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Vertiv by 15.4% during the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,553,001 shares of the company’s stock worth $221,013,000 after buying an additional 340,639 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 8,579 shares during the period. Janney Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Vertiv during the 3rd quarter worth $8,403,000. Gordian Capital Singapore Pte Ltd boosted its position in shares of Vertiv by 112.5% during the 3rd quarter. Gordian Capital Singapore Pte Ltd now owns 8,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $846,000 after purchasing an additional 4,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 36,684 shares during the period. 89.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.