Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) Trading 4% Higher – Here’s Why

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Vertiv in a research report on Monday, October 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price objective for the company. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Vertiv from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. TD Cowen increased their target price on Vertiv from $115.00 to $141.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Vertiv from $126.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Vertiv from $121.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $140.09.

Vertiv Trading Up 2.7 %

The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $122.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $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 firm 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 results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $2.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.98 billion. Vertiv had a return on equity of 55.33% and a net margin of 7.72%. The firm’s revenue was up 19.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.52 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Vertiv Holdings Co will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Vertiv Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 19th. Shareholders 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 is a positive change from Vertiv’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.03. This represents a $0.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.13%. Vertiv’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 6.67%.

Insider Activity

In other Vertiv news, EVP Stephen Liang sold 86,619 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.07, for a total value 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. This represents a 81.59 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible 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 stock was sold at an average price of $141.46, for a total value of $4,373,094.44. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 19,448 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,751,114.08. This represents a 61.38 % 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 valued at $23,105,682 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 5.01% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vertiv

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of VRT. Anchor Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Vertiv during the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. Krane Funds Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Vertiv in the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Global Trust Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Vertiv during the third quarter worth about $30,000. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC increased its position in shares of Vertiv by 200.0% during the third quarter. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC now owns 300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in shares of Vertiv in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. 89.92% of the stock is currently 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.