Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) Shares Gap Down – Should You Sell?

Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $117.02, but opened at $105.75. Vertiv shares last traded at $112.55, with a volume of 3,740,953 shares.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on VRT shares. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Vertiv from $150.00 to $145.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Vertiv from $141.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Vertiv from $124.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Melius lowered Vertiv from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $125.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $139.36.

Vertiv Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $124.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $106.69. The stock has a market cap of $41.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 74.14, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.64.

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 dividend of $0.0375 per share. This is an increase from Vertiv’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.03. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $0.15 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.13%. Vertiv’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.67%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Stephen Liang sold 86,619 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.07, for a total value of $11,353,152.33. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 19,551 shares in the company, valued at $2,562,549.57. This represents a 81.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Jakki L. Haussler sold 15,347 shares of the business’s 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 owns 3,425 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. Insiders sold 171,527 shares of company stock worth $23,105,682 over the last three months. 5.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vertiv

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in Vertiv by 68.6% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 7,754,347 shares of the company’s stock worth $880,971,000 after acquiring an additional 3,153,932 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Vertiv by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,635,081 shares of the company’s stock worth $759,614,000 after purchasing an additional 308,704 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Vertiv by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,951,784 shares of the company’s stock worth $592,433,000 after buying an additional 408,054 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in 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 buying an additional 2,860,181 shares during the period. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP increased its holdings in Vertiv by 1.1% during the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 3,611,566 shares of the company’s stock worth $359,315,000 after buying an additional 40,696 shares during the last quarter. 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.