HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC Invests $4.37 Million in Vertiv Holdings Co. $VRT

HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Vertiv Holdings Co. (NYSE:VRT) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 60,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,369,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VRT. GW&K Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Vertiv in the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,000. SouthState Corp purchased a new stake in Vertiv in the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,000. North Star Investment Management Corp. increased its holdings in Vertiv by 4,120.0% in the 1st quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 422 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 412 shares in the last quarter. Sachetta LLC increased its holdings in Vertiv by 242.0% in the 1st quarter. Sachetta LLC now owns 448 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 317 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Colonial Trust Co SC increased its holdings in Vertiv by 211.9% in the 4th quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 315 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 214 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.92% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on VRT. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Vertiv in a report on Friday, July 11th. Melius Research raised shares of Vertiv from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $134.00 to $165.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Vertiv from $135.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Vertiv from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Vertiv in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $144.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Stephen Liang sold 43,683 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.83, for a total value of $5,059,801.89. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 9,551 shares in the company, valued at $1,106,292.33. This trade represents a 82.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Karsten Winther sold 41,654 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.21, for a total value of $5,590,383.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 18,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,529,590.08. This represents a 68.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 5.01% of the company’s stock.

Vertiv Trading Up 1.9%

VRT stock opened at $135.60 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $128.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $105.22. Vertiv Holdings Co. has a fifty-two week low of $53.60 and a fifty-two week high of $155.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.74. The firm has a market cap of $51.78 billion, a PE ratio of 64.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.77.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.12. Vertiv had a net margin of 8.93% and a return on equity of 51.64%. The firm had revenue of $2.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.67 earnings per share. Vertiv’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Vertiv Holdings Co. will post 3.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vertiv Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 17th were issued a $0.0375 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 14.0%. This is a boost from Vertiv’s previous dividend of $0.01. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. Vertiv’s payout ratio is 7.18%.

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.