Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

Vertiv Holdings Co. (NYSE:VRT)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $168.88, but opened at $178.43. Vertiv shares last traded at $180.86, with a volume of 2,623,459 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on VRT. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $159.00 price objective on Vertiv in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Vertiv from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Rothschild Redb raised Vertiv to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. Zacks Research lowered Vertiv from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Cfra Research raised Vertiv to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $149.84.

Vertiv Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 1.74 and a quick ratio of 1.35. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $139.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $116.61. The stock has a market cap of $64.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 80.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.84.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.12. Vertiv had a return on equity of 51.64% and a net margin of 8.93%.The company had revenue of $2.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.67 EPS. Vertiv’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.1% on a year-over-year basis. Vertiv has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 0.940-1.000 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Vertiv Holdings Co. will post 3.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vertiv Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th were paid a $0.0375 dividend. This represents a $0.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. Vertiv’s payout ratio is 7.18%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Paul Ryan sold 22,218 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.34, for a total value of $2,829,240.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 12,803 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,630,334.02. The trade was a 63.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Jakki L. Haussler sold 15,680 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.92, for a total value of $1,943,065.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 4,631 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $573,873.52. This trade represents a 77.20% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 180,952 shares of company stock worth $23,360,571. Insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. GW&K Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Vertiv during the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. Promus Capital LLC purchased a new position in Vertiv during the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. SouthState Corp purchased a new position in Vertiv during the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. Avion Wealth increased its holdings in Vertiv by 99.1% during the 2nd quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 213 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the period. Finally, North Star Investment Management Corp. increased its holdings in Vertiv by 4,120.0% during the 1st quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 422 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 412 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.92% of the company’s stock.

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.