Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) Trading 5.3% Higher Following Analyst Upgrade

Vertiv Holdings Co. (NYSE:VRT)’s stock price traded up 5.3% during trading on Thursday after Oppenheimer raised their price target on the stock from $132.00 to $140.00. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Vertiv traded as high as $133.52 and last traded at $132.10. 3,662,822 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 57% from the average session volume of 8,589,868 shares. The stock had previously closed at $125.40.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Vertiv from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, June 21st. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Vertiv in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Barclays raised their price objective on Vertiv from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Melius Research upgraded Vertiv from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $134.00 to $165.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Roth Mkm initiated coverage on Vertiv in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. They set a “buy” rating and a $75.00 price objective on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $136.76.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vertiv

In other Vertiv news, insider Karsten Winther sold 5,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.33, for a total value of $518,815.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 18,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,777,837.51. This trade represents a 22.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Stephen Liang sold 43,683 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $1,106,292.33. This trade represents a 82.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRT. GW&K Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Vertiv in the first quarter valued at about $26,000. SouthState Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Vertiv during the first quarter worth about $27,000. North Star Investment Management Corp. increased its position in shares of Vertiv by 4,120.0% during the first quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 422 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 412 shares during the last quarter. Sachetta LLC increased its position in shares of Vertiv by 242.0% during the first quarter. Sachetta LLC now owns 448 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 317 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Banque Transatlantique SA purchased a new stake in shares of Vertiv during the first quarter worth about $33,000. 89.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Vertiv Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $49.98 billion, a PE ratio of 76.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.72 and a quick ratio of 1.28. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $115.44 and a 200-day moving average price of $104.03.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) last announced its 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. Vertiv had a return on equity of 56.01% and a net margin of 7.92%. The business had revenue of $2.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.43 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Vertiv Holdings Co. will post 3.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vertiv Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 17th were issued a $0.0375 dividend. This is a positive change from Vertiv’s previous dividend of $0.01. This represents a yield of 0.14%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Vertiv’s payout ratio is currently 8.72%.

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.