Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) Trading Up 4.9% on Strong Earnings

Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT) shares rose 4.9% on Thursday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The company traded as high as $90.46 and last traded at $88.72. Approximately 6,834,540 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 13% from the average daily volume of 7,879,651 shares. The stock had previously closed at $84.57.

The company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.62 billion. Vertiv had a net margin of 6.71% and a return on equity of 39.46%. The business’s revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.24 EPS.

Vertiv Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were issued a dividend of $0.025 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 18th. This represents a $0.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.11%. Vertiv’s payout ratio is 8.47%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRT has been the topic of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Vertiv from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Vertiv from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Vertiv from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Vertiv from $102.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Vertiv from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $76.78.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Stephen Liang sold 306,196 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 51,841 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,641,311.84. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Vertiv news, CAO Scott Cripps sold 56,594 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Stephen Liang sold 306,196 shares of Vertiv stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.24, for a total transaction of $21,507,207.04. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly 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 owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vertiv

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Vertiv by 33.2% during the first quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 550 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Vertiv by 9.7% during the first quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 31,340 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,560,000 after acquiring an additional 2,778 shares during the period. Ulland Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Vertiv by 858.6% during the first quarter. Ulland Investment Advisors LLC now owns 57,121 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,665,000 after acquiring an additional 51,162 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its holdings in shares of Vertiv by 114.9% during the first quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 217,131 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,733,000 after acquiring an additional 116,102 shares during the period. Finally, Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund raised its holdings in shares of Vertiv by 10.7% during the first quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 79,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,509,000 after acquiring an additional 7,700 shares during the period. 89.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Vertiv Trading Up 6.8 %

The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45. The business’s fifty day moving average is $75.90 and its 200 day moving average is $57.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 76.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.59.

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.