Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) Trading Down 4.4% – Should You Sell?

Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT)’s stock price dropped 4.4% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $119.20 and last traded at $120.42. Approximately 2,188,047 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 73% from the average daily volume of 8,092,855 shares. The stock had previously closed at $125.97.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Mizuho increased their price objective on Vertiv from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Bank of America upped their target price on Vertiv from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. UBS Group began coverage on Vertiv in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $155.00 price objective for the company. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Vertiv from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Vertiv in a research note on Monday, October 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $125.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Vertiv currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $140.09.

Vertiv Stock Down 4.2 %

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 50 day simple moving average of $120.83 and a 200-day simple moving average of $98.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 80.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.61.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.07. Vertiv had a return on equity of 55.33% and a net margin of 7.72%. The firm had revenue of $2.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.98 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.52 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Vertiv Holdings Co will post 2.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vertiv Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 19th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be paid a $0.0375 dividend. The ex-dividend date is 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 dividend yield of 0.12%. Vertiv’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.67%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Anand Sanghi sold 30,914 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 $2,751,114.08. This trade represents a 61.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Stephen Liang sold 86,619 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 171,527 shares of company stock worth $23,105,682. 5.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vertiv

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Vertiv by 15.4% in the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,553,001 shares of the company’s stock valued at $221,013,000 after acquiring an additional 340,639 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. boosted its holdings in Vertiv by 7.2% during the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 127,210 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,656,000 after buying an additional 8,579 shares during the last quarter. Janney Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Vertiv during the third quarter worth about $8,403,000. Gordian Capital Singapore Pte Ltd boosted its holdings in Vertiv by 112.5% during the third quarter. Gordian Capital Singapore Pte Ltd now owns 8,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $846,000 after buying an additional 4,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Vertiv by 190.7% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 55,923 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,564,000 after buying an additional 36,684 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.92% of the company’s stock.

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.