Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Vertiv (NYSE:VRT)

Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT) saw some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Investors purchased 35,466 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 47% compared to the typical daily volume of 24,068 call options.

Vertiv Stock Performance

Vertiv stock opened at $84.53 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $32.29 billion, a PE ratio of 71.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $75.35 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $56.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 1.74 and a quick ratio of 1.35. Vertiv has a 12 month low of $12.22 and a 12 month high of $94.39.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The company reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.88 billion. Vertiv had a return on equity of 39.46% and a net margin of 6.71%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.28 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Vertiv will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Vertiv Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 19th were paid a dividend of $0.025 per share. This represents a $0.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.12%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 18th. Vertiv’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vertiv

In other news, CAO Scott Cripps sold 56,594 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.76, for a total transaction of $4,004,591.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CAO Scott Cripps sold 56,594 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.76, for a total value of $4,004,591.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Stephen Liang sold 306,196 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.24, for a total transaction of $21,507,207.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 51,841 shares in the company, valued at $3,641,311.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 5.62% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Arlington Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Vertiv during the 1st quarter worth about $222,000. Dakota Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Vertiv in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $2,862,000. Simplicity Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Vertiv in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,568,000. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. lifted its position in shares of Vertiv by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. now owns 49,724 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,061,000 after acquiring an additional 1,671 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Vertiv by 2,568.5% in the 1st quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,740 shares of the company’s stock valued at $795,000 after acquiring an additional 9,375 shares in the last quarter. 89.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on VRT shares. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Vertiv from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of Vertiv in a report on Friday, April 5th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $96.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Vertiv from $65.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Vertiv from $69.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Vertiv from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $74.56.

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.