Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) Trading Up 0.3% – Time to Buy?

Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT)’s stock price traded up 0.3% on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $122.50 and last traded at $121.01. 983,852 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 88% from the average session volume of 8,079,442 shares. The stock had previously closed at $120.69.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on VRT. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Vertiv from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Vertiv from $115.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Vertiv from $141.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Vertiv in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $155.00 price target for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Vertiv from $124.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $140.09.

Vertiv Price Performance

The stock’s 50 day moving average is $121.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $98.45. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $44.75 billion, a PE ratio of 79.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.61.

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

Vertiv Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 19th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be issued a $0.0375 dividend. This is an increase from Vertiv’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.03. This represents a $0.15 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.13%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. Vertiv’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.67%.

Insider Activity

In other Vertiv news, EVP Stephen Liang sold 86,619 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.07, for a total transaction of $11,353,152.33. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,551 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,562,549.57. The trade was a 81.59 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Jakki L. Haussler sold 15,347 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.38, for a total transaction of $2,108,370.86. Following the sale, the director now owns 3,425 shares in the company, valued at $470,526.50. The trade was a 81.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 171,527 shares of company stock valued at $23,105,682. 5.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vertiv

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Vertiv by 10,825.0% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,600,415 shares of the company’s stock worth $457,695,000 after buying an additional 4,558,306 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA acquired a new position in shares of Vertiv during the 2nd quarter worth $331,091,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Vertiv by 271.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,915,446 shares of the company’s stock worth $389,548,000 after buying an additional 2,860,181 shares during the last quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP raised its stake in shares of Vertiv by 215.6% during the 3rd quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 1,864,426 shares of the company’s stock worth $185,492,000 after buying an additional 1,273,746 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Whale Rock Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Vertiv during the 3rd quarter worth $110,517,000. 89.92% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.