Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) Trading 3% Higher – Should You Buy?

Vertiv Holdings Co. (NYSE:VRT)’s stock price traded up 3% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $120.74 and last traded at $120.07. 2,037,767 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 76% from the average session volume of 8,622,018 shares. The stock had previously closed at $116.54.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Vertiv in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Roth Mkm assumed coverage on shares of Vertiv in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $75.00 target price for the company. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $150.00 target price (up from $100.00) on shares of Vertiv in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Vertiv from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Vertiv from $98.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $126.69.

Vertiv Price Performance

The business’s 50 day moving average price is $100.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $103.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 70.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.72 and a quick ratio of 1.28.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.02. Vertiv had a net margin of 7.92% and a return on equity of 56.01%. The firm had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.43 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Vertiv Holdings Co. will post 3.59 EPS for the current year.

Vertiv Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be paid a $0.0375 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This is a positive change from Vertiv’s previous dividend of $0.01. This represents a dividend yield of 0.14%. Vertiv’s payout ratio is currently 8.72%.

Insider Transactions at Vertiv

In related news, insider Karsten Winther sold 5,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.33, for a total transaction of $518,815.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 18,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,777,837.51. The trade was a 22.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Stephen Liang sold 43,683 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.83, for a total transaction of $5,059,801.89. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 9,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,106,292.33. This trade represents a 82.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 5.01% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vertiv

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRT. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA purchased a new position in Vertiv during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $597,379,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Vertiv during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $391,777,000. Amundi lifted its holdings in Vertiv by 96.8% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 6,951,773 shares of the company’s stock valued at $469,490,000 after purchasing an additional 3,420,144 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Vertiv by 985.3% during the first quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,301,700 shares of the company’s stock valued at $166,183,000 after purchasing an additional 2,089,612 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in Vertiv by 136.9% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,336,862 shares of the company’s stock valued at $379,101,000 after purchasing an additional 1,928,275 shares in the last quarter. 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.