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

Shares of Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT) traded up 4% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $123.36 and last traded at $122.98. 1,661,571 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 47% from the average session volume of 3,110,364 shares. The stock had previously closed at $118.30.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on VRT shares. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Vertiv in a research note on Monday, October 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price target for the company. Mizuho increased their price target on Vertiv from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Vertiv from $124.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Vertiv from $121.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, UBS Group initiated coverage on Vertiv in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $155.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Vertiv has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $140.09.

Vertiv Stock Up 4.9 %

The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $122.55 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $100.43. The firm has a market cap of $46.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 82.76, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60.

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. Vertiv had a net margin of 7.72% and a return on equity of 55.33%. The business had revenue of $2.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.98 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.52 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Vertiv Holdings Co will post 2.69 EPS for the current year.

Vertiv Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 19th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were given a dividend of $0.0375 per share. This represents a $0.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.12%. This is a boost from Vertiv’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.03. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 3rd. Vertiv’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vertiv

In related news, insider Anand Sanghi sold 30,914 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.46, for a total value of $4,373,094.44. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,448 shares in the company, valued at $2,751,114.08. This represents a 61.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Stephen Liang sold 86,619 shares of Vertiv stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.07, for a total value of $11,353,152.33. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,551 shares in the company, valued at $2,562,549.57. The trade was a 81.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 171,527 shares of company stock worth $23,105,682 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 5.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Krane Funds Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Vertiv in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Anchor Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Vertiv during the second quarter worth $26,000. Global Trust Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Vertiv in the third quarter worth $30,000. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC grew its stake in Vertiv by 200.0% in the 3rd quarter. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC now owns 300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in shares of Vertiv during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. 89.92% of the stock is 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.