Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) Stock Price Down 3.2% – Here’s What Happened

Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT) shares dropped 3.2% on Friday . The company traded as low as $147.51 and last traded at $148.62. Approximately 2,925,960 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 53% from the average daily volume of 6,182,233 shares. The stock had previously closed at $153.49.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Fox Advisors started coverage on shares of Vertiv in a research note on Monday, January 6th. They issued an “equal weight” rating on the stock. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Vertiv from $115.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on Vertiv in a report on Monday, January 6th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $150.00 target price for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted 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. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Vertiv from $121.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Vertiv presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $141.75.

Vertiv Trading Down 3.9 %

The company has a 50 day moving average of $127.76 and a two-hundred day moving average of $104.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $55.37 billion, a PE ratio of 98.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.38.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $2.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.98 billion. Vertiv had a return on equity of 55.33% and a net margin of 7.72%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.52 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Vertiv Holdings Co will post 2.7 EPS for the current year.

Vertiv Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 19th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were given a dividend of $0.0375 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 3rd. This is a positive change from Vertiv’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.03. This represents a $0.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.10%. Vertiv’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 6.67%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Anand Sanghi sold 30,914 shares of Vertiv stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.46, for a total transaction of $4,373,094.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,751,114.08. The trade was a 61.38 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Stephen Liang sold 86,619 shares of the 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,551 shares in the company, valued at $2,562,549.57. This trade represents a 81.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 171,527 shares of company stock valued at $23,105,682 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 5.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRT. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora purchased a new position in shares of Vertiv in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Krane Funds Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Vertiv in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Anchor Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Vertiv during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Global Trust Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Vertiv during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC grew its stake in Vertiv by 200.0% in the 3rd quarter. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC now owns 300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.92% of the company’s stock.

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.