Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) Stock Price Down 3.1% – What’s Next?

Shares of Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT) were down 3.1% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $125.20 and last traded at $126.57. Approximately 1,637,571 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 74% from the average daily volume of 6,181,443 shares. The stock had previously closed at $130.64.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Vertiv from $121.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on Vertiv in a research note on Monday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $150.00 price objective for the company. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Vertiv from $115.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Mizuho raised their price objective 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. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Vertiv from $126.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Vertiv currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $140.92.

Vertiv Trading Down 1.4 %

The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 85.91, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.63. The company’s 50-day moving average is $123.56 and its 200-day moving average is $101.34.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $2.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.98 billion. Vertiv had a return on equity of 55.33% and a net margin of 7.72%. Vertiv’s revenue was up 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.52 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Vertiv Holdings Co will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vertiv Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Vertiv

In other news, EVP Stephen Liang sold 86,619 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Anand Sanghi sold 30,914 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now owns 19,448 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. Insiders have sold a total of 171,527 shares of company stock worth $23,105,682 in the last three months. Insiders own 5.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 4,558,306 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA bought a new position in shares of Vertiv in the second quarter valued at approximately $331,091,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Vertiv by 271.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,915,446 shares of the company’s stock valued at $389,548,000 after purchasing an additional 2,860,181 shares during the period. Castle Hook Partners LP grew its position in Vertiv by 215.6% in the 3rd quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 1,864,426 shares of the company’s stock worth $185,492,000 after purchasing an additional 1,273,746 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Whale Rock Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Vertiv during the third quarter valued at approximately $110,517,000. 89.92% of the stock is 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.