Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) Trading Up 1% – Time to Buy?

Shares of Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT) were up 1% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $133.49 and last traded at $130.25. Approximately 1,422,961 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 76% from the average daily volume of 5,904,342 shares. The stock had previously closed at $128.95.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on VRT shares. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Vertiv from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Vertiv from $121.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Vertiv from $141.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Vertiv in a report on Monday, October 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Vertiv from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Vertiv currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $140.92.

Vertiv Trading Up 1.1 %

The company’s 50-day moving average price is $125.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $102.74. 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 firm has a market cap of $48.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 86.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.63.

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

Vertiv Increases Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Vertiv

In other Vertiv news, EVP Stephen Liang sold 86,619 shares of Vertiv stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were 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 directly owns 19,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,562,549.57. The trade was a 81.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Jakki L. Haussler sold 15,347 shares of Vertiv stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.38, for a total transaction of $2,108,370.86. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,425 shares in the company, valued at $470,526.50. This trade represents a 81.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 171,527 shares of company stock valued at $23,105,682. Corporate insiders own 5.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vertiv

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VRT. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Vertiv by 10,825.0% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,600,415 shares of the company’s stock valued at $457,695,000 after acquiring an additional 4,558,306 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA acquired a new stake in shares of Vertiv during the second quarter valued at about $331,091,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Vertiv by 271.0% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,915,446 shares of the company’s stock valued at $389,548,000 after acquiring an additional 2,860,181 shares during the last quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP increased its position in shares of Vertiv by 215.6% during the third quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 1,864,426 shares of the company’s stock valued at $185,492,000 after acquiring an additional 1,273,746 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Whale Rock Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Vertiv during the third quarter valued at about $110,517,000. 89.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.