Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) Shares Gap Down on Insider Selling

Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT)’s stock price gapped down prior to trading on Monday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock had previously closed at $39.20, but opened at $38.18. Vertiv shares last traded at $38.21, with a volume of 913,235 shares changing hands.

Specifically, Director Doherty Philip O’ sold 130,008 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.07, for a total transaction of $3,129,292.56. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 16,302,233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $392,394,748.31. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Doherty Philip O’ sold 130,008 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.07, for a total transaction of $3,129,292.56. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 16,302,233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $392,394,748.31. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Vpe Holdings, Llc sold 20,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.91, for a total transaction of $698,200,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 17,955,215 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $626,816,555.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 24,117,192 shares of company stock valued at $815,569,581. 5.62% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VRT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Vertiv from $20.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 3rd. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Vertiv from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 11th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Vertiv from $40.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 7th. Vertical Research raised shares of Vertiv from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Vertiv from $38.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $30.27.

Vertiv Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $14.92 billion, a PE ratio of 83.40 and a beta of 1.41. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $31.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.95. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.77.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 2nd. The company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.17. Vertiv had a net margin of 2.84% and a return on equity of 31.02%. The firm had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.10 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Vertiv Holdings Co will post 1.59 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vertiv

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of VRT. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Vertiv by 11.5% during the first quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 26,749 shares of the company’s stock valued at $375,000 after acquiring an additional 2,756 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Vertiv by 17.6% during the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 15,756 shares of the company’s stock valued at $221,000 after acquiring an additional 2,361 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in Vertiv by 216.7% in the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 21,756 shares of the company’s stock worth $304,000 after buying an additional 14,886 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. increased its holdings in Vertiv by 40.2% in the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 66,068 shares of the company’s stock worth $925,000 after buying an additional 18,935 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can increased its holdings in Vertiv by 450.1% in the 1st quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 461,842 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,333,000 after buying an additional 377,884 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.37% 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.