Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) Trading Up 2.9% – Time to Buy?

Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT) traded up 2.9% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $136.80 and last traded at $136.44. 1,316,571 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 76% from the average session volume of 5,583,676 shares. The stock had previously closed at $132.59.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VRT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Vertiv from $126.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Vertiv in a report on Monday, October 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $125.00 target price for the company. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Vertiv from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Vertiv in a research report on Monday, January 6th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $150.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Vertiv from $121.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Vertiv currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $141.75.

Vertiv Price Performance

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 business has a fifty day moving average of $126.07 and a 200 day moving average of $103.50. The firm has a market cap of $51.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 90.63, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.63.

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

Vertiv Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 19th. Investors 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 of this dividend was Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $0.15 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.11%. Vertiv’s payout ratio is presently 6.67%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Jakki L. Haussler sold 15,347 shares of Vertiv stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $470,526.50. This trade represents a 81.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Anand Sanghi sold 30,914 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.46, for a total value of $4,373,094.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,448 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,751,114.08. This represents a 61.38 % 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. Insiders own 5.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Vertiv

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Anchor Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Vertiv in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Krane Funds Advisors LLC bought a new position in Vertiv during the 3rd quarter worth $29,000. Global Trust Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Vertiv in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC lifted its position in shares of Vertiv by 200.0% during 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. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in shares of Vertiv during the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.