Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) Shares Up 1.6% on Analyst Upgrade

Vertiv Holdings Co. (NYSE:VRT)’s stock price shot up 1.6% on Monday after Citigroup raised their price target on the stock from $130.00 to $149.00. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock. Vertiv traded as high as $124.99 and last traded at $125.27. 1,659,970 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 81% from the average session volume of 8,592,462 shares. The stock had previously closed at $123.30.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on VRT. Roth Mkm initiated coverage on shares of Vertiv in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. They set a “buy” rating and a $75.00 target price on the stock. Melius upgraded shares of Vertiv from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $165.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Vertiv in a research note on Friday. KGI Securities initiated coverage on shares of Vertiv in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Wolfe Research restated an “outperform” rating and set a $155.00 target price on shares of Vertiv in a research note on Thursday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $135.35.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Stephen Liang sold 43,683 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.83, for a total value of $5,059,801.89. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 9,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,106,292.33. This trade represents a 82.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Karsten Winther sold 5,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.33, for a total transaction of $518,815.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 18,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,777,837.51. This trade represents a 22.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 5.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Vertiv

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Presidio Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Vertiv by 1.3% in the second quarter. Presidio Capital Management LLC now owns 6,010 shares of the company’s stock worth $772,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC lifted its position in Vertiv by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 3,695 shares of the company’s stock worth $420,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Horizon Investment Services LLC lifted its position in Vertiv by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Horizon Investment Services LLC now owns 2,410 shares of the company’s stock worth $274,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC lifted its position in Vertiv by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 3,226 shares of the company’s stock worth $367,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Utah Retirement Systems lifted its position in Vertiv by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Utah Retirement Systems now owns 39,300 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,465,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. 89.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Vertiv Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $47.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 72.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.75. The business has a 50-day moving average of $113.46 and a 200-day moving average of $103.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.72 and a quick ratio of 1.28.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. Vertiv had a return on equity of 56.01% and a net margin of 7.92%. Vertiv’s revenue was up 24.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.43 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Vertiv Holdings Co. will post 3.59 EPS for the current year.

Vertiv Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th were given a dividend of $0.0375 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 0.14%. This is an increase from Vertiv’s previous dividend of $0.01. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. Vertiv’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.72%.

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.