Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC Increases Holdings in Vertiv Holdings Co. (NYSE:VRT)

Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC increased its position in Vertiv Holdings Co. (NYSE:VRT) by 9.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,703 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 979 shares during the quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Vertiv were worth $845,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Vertiv by 22.3% during the 4th quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 15,079 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,713,000 after buying an additional 2,748 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its stake in Vertiv by 73.7% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 327,293 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,184,000 after acquiring an additional 138,871 shares during the period. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG grew its holdings in Vertiv by 43.8% during the 4th quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG now owns 12,565 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,428,000 after acquiring an additional 3,830 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Vertiv by 24.3% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,314,300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $149,318,000 after purchasing an additional 257,323 shares during the period. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI raised its holdings in shares of Vertiv by 58.0% in the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 9,740 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,107,000 after purchasing an additional 3,576 shares in the last quarter. 89.92% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Vertiv Stock Up 1.2%

Vertiv stock opened at $145.88 on Friday. Vertiv Holdings Co. has a fifty-two week low of $53.60 and a fifty-two week high of $155.84. The company has a market cap of $55.60 billion, a PE ratio of 69.80, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.72. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $121.71 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $104.78.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.12. Vertiv had a return on equity of 56.24% and a net margin of 8.93%. The firm had revenue of $2.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.67 earnings per share. Vertiv’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Vertiv Holdings Co. will post 3.59 EPS for the current year.

Vertiv Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th were issued a $0.0375 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This is a positive change from Vertiv’s previous dividend of $0.01. This represents a yield of 14.0%. Vertiv’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.18%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on VRT. Oppenheimer set a $151.00 price objective on shares of Vertiv and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wall Street Zen upgraded Vertiv from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, June 21st. Melius Research upgraded Vertiv from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $134.00 to $165.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Vertiv in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Vertiv from $130.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $144.06.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vertiv

In related news, insider Karsten Winther sold 5,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.33, for a total transaction of $518,815.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 18,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,777,837.51. This trade represents a 22.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Stephen Liang sold 43,683 shares of Vertiv stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.83, for a total value of $5,059,801.89. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 9,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,106,292.33. This represents a 82.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.