Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) Shares Up 3.2% After Earnings Beat

Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT) shares were up 3.2% on Thursday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The company traded as high as $111.89 and last traded at $111.87. Approximately 2,386,511 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 71% from the average daily volume of 8,359,279 shares. The stock had previously closed at $108.36.

The company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.07. Vertiv had a net margin of 6.93% and a return on equity of 50.79%. The business had revenue of $2.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.98 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.52 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.0% on a year-over-year basis.

Vertiv Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 17th were paid a dividend of $0.025 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 17th. This represents a $0.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.09%. Vertiv’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.62%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on VRT shares. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Vertiv from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Vertiv from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Vertiv from $110.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Vertiv in a research note on Monday, October 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Vertiv from $93.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $122.11.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Karsten Winther sold 44,924 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.99, for a total transaction of $3,593,470.76. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 10,542 shares in the company, valued at $843,254.58. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 5.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of VRT. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA purchased a new position in shares of Vertiv during the 2nd quarter worth about $331,091,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Vertiv by 303.1% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,777,057 shares of the company’s stock worth $390,143,000 after acquiring an additional 3,591,903 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Vertiv by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,622,257 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,745,930,000 after acquiring an additional 1,766,784 shares during the period. Castle Hook Partners LP purchased a new position in shares of Vertiv during the 1st quarter worth about $135,987,000. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP lifted its holdings in shares of Vertiv by 85.2% during the 1st quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 3,399,272 shares of the company’s stock worth $277,619,000 after acquiring an additional 1,563,466 shares during the period. 89.92% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Vertiv Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $41.98 billion, a PE ratio of 109.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.36. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $92.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $89.97.

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.