Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) Trading Up 2% After Analyst Upgrade

Vertiv Holdings Co. (NYSE:VRT) shares shot up 2% on Tuesday 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 $129.44 and last traded at $127.17. 2,572,656 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 70% from the average session volume of 8,587,000 shares. The stock had previously closed at $124.72.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on VRT. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $155.00 price target on shares of Vertiv in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Vertiv in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Vertiv from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Barclays lifted their price target on Vertiv from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Vertiv from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, June 21st. 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 MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $135.35.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Karsten Winther sold 5,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.33, for a total value of $518,815.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 18,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,777,837.51. This represents a 22.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Stephen Liang sold 43,683 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.83, for a total transaction of $5,059,801.89. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 9,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,106,292.33. This represents a 82.06% 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 Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. GW&K Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Vertiv in the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. SouthState Corp bought a new position in Vertiv during the first quarter valued at about $27,000. North Star Investment Management Corp. lifted its position in shares of Vertiv by 4,120.0% in the first quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 422 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 412 shares during the last quarter. Sachetta LLC raised its stake in shares of Vertiv by 242.0% in the 1st quarter. Sachetta LLC now owns 448 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 317 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Banque Transatlantique SA acquired a new stake in Vertiv in the 1st quarter worth approximately $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.92% of the company’s stock.

Vertiv Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $114.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $103.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The company has a market cap of $48.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 74.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.75.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. Vertiv had a net margin of 7.92% and a return on equity of 56.01%. The business’s revenue was up 24.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.43 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Vertiv Holdings Co. will post 3.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vertiv Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th were given a $0.0375 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 0.14%. This is a boost from Vertiv’s previous dividend of $0.01. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. Vertiv’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.