Vertiv Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:VRT)

Vertiv Holdings Co. (NYSE:VRT) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock traders purchased 67,829 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 39% compared to the average volume of 48,693 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on VRT. Cfra Research raised Vertiv to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on shares of Vertiv from $191.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Roth Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $195.00 price objective (up from $162.00) on shares of Vertiv in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. William Blair began coverage on Vertiv in a report on Monday, July 28th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Vertiv from $165.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Vertiv has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $177.81.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Paul Ryan sold 22,218 shares of Vertiv stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.34, for a total transaction of $2,829,240.12. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 12,803 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,630,334.02. The trade was a 63.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Jakki L. Haussler sold 15,680 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.92, for a total value of $1,943,065.60. Following the transaction, the director owned 4,631 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $573,873.52. This represents a 77.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 139,298 shares of company stock valued at $17,770,188. 2.63% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Vertiv during the 2nd quarter valued at $538,132,000. Winslow Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Vertiv in the second quarter valued at about $459,284,000. Amundi raised its holdings in Vertiv by 96.8% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 6,951,773 shares of the company’s stock valued at $469,490,000 after buying an additional 3,420,144 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Vertiv by 985.3% during the first quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,301,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $166,183,000 after purchasing an additional 2,089,612 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in Vertiv by 100.1% during the 2nd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,246,769 shares of the company’s stock worth $415,132,000 after buying an additional 1,624,456 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.92% of the company’s stock.

Vertiv Stock Performance

VRT traded down $7.32 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $163.33. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,865,793 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,703,094. The company’s 50-day moving average is $166.72 and its 200-day moving average is $137.55. Vertiv has a 52 week low of $53.60 and a 52 week high of $202.45. The firm has a market cap of $62.45 billion, a PE ratio of 62.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a current ratio of 1.83.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The company reported $1.24 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $2.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.59 billion. Vertiv had a net margin of 10.67% and a return on equity of 50.82%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 29.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.76 earnings per share. Vertiv has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 1.230-1.290 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 4.070-4.130 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Vertiv will post 3.59 EPS for the current year.

Vertiv Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 25th will be given a dividend of $0.0625 per share. This represents a $0.25 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. This is a boost from Vertiv’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 25th. Vertiv’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 4.15%.

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.