Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) Stock Price Down 3.1% – Here’s Why

Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT) shares traded down 3.1% on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $125.20 and last traded at $126.57. 1,637,571 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 74% from the average session volume of 6,181,443 shares. The stock had previously closed at $130.64.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Vertiv from $126.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Vertiv from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Fox Advisors initiated coverage on shares of Vertiv in a research report on Monday. They set an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Vertiv from $141.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Vertiv from $121.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $140.92.

Vertiv Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $48.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 85.97, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.63. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $124.74 and its 200 day moving average price is $102.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.38.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 7.72% and a return on equity of 55.33%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 19.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.52 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Vertiv Holdings Co will post 2.69 EPS for the current year.

Vertiv Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $0.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.12%. This is a boost from Vertiv’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.03. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 3rd. Vertiv’s payout ratio is 6.67%.

Insider Activity at Vertiv

In other news, Director Jakki L. Haussler sold 15,347 shares of Vertiv stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.38, for a total value of $2,108,370.86. Following the transaction, the director now owns 3,425 shares in the company, valued at approximately $470,526.50. This trade represents a 81.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Anand Sanghi sold 30,914 shares of Vertiv stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.46, for a total value of $4,373,094.44. Following the completion of 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 171,527 shares of company stock worth $23,105,682. Insiders own 5.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VRT. Krane Funds Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Vertiv in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Anchor Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Vertiv in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Global Trust Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Vertiv during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC boosted its holdings 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 worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in Vertiv in the third quarter worth about $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.