Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) Trading 6% Higher – Still a Buy?

Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT)’s stock price shot up 6% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $135.09 and last traded at $133.18. 3,736,421 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 29% from the average session volume of 5,246,454 shares. The stock had previously closed at $125.67.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on VRT shares. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Vertiv in a report on Monday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $150.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Vertiv from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Fox Advisors assumed coverage on Vertiv in a research report on Monday. They set an “equal weight” rating on the stock. TD Cowen upped their price target on Vertiv from $115.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Vertiv from $126.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $140.92.

Vertiv Price Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average of $123.56 and a 200 day moving average of $101.34. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.55 billion, a PE ratio of 86.23, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.63.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $2.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.98 billion. Vertiv had a net margin of 7.72% and a return on equity of 55.33%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.52 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Vertiv Holdings Co will post 2.69 EPS for the current year.

Vertiv Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 19th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were issued a $0.0375 dividend. This is an increase from Vertiv’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.03. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $0.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.12%. Vertiv’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.67%.

Insider Transactions at Vertiv

In other news, EVP Stephen Liang sold 86,619 shares of Vertiv stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.07, for a total transaction of $11,353,152.33. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 19,551 shares in the company, valued at $2,562,549.57. The trade was a 81.59 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Jakki L. Haussler sold 15,347 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.38, for a total transaction of $2,108,370.86. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $470,526.50. This represents a 81.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 171,527 shares of company stock worth $23,105,682 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 5.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Vertiv

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VRT. State Street Corp increased its stake in Vertiv by 4.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,635,081 shares of the company’s stock worth $759,614,000 after acquiring an additional 308,704 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Vertiv by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,951,784 shares of the company’s stock worth $592,433,000 after purchasing an additional 408,054 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in Vertiv by 10,825.0% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,600,415 shares of the company’s stock valued at $457,695,000 after buying an additional 4,558,306 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Vertiv by 271.0% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,915,446 shares of the company’s stock valued at $389,548,000 after buying an additional 2,860,181 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA purchased a new position in Vertiv during the second quarter worth about $331,091,000. 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.