Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) Shares Climb 6.5% – Time to Buy?

Vertiv Holdings Co. (NYSE:VRT)’s stock price shot up 6.5% during mid-day trading on Wednesday. The company traded as high as $211.81 and last traded at $206.79. 6,872,187 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 4% from the average session volume of 6,581,374 shares. The stock had previously closed at $194.22.

Top Vertiv Stories

Here are a few of the latest stories about VRT:

• Positive Sentiment: Recent results reinforce the growth case: Vertiv reported 61% year-over-year third-quarter revenue growth, beat earnings expectations, and raised its outlook. Organic orders also rose more than 100%, pointing to strong demand for AI data-center infrastructure. Vertiv’s Data Center Growth Fuels Revenue
• Positive Sentiment: A three-year agreement with Infineon is intended to secure key power semiconductors for Vertiv’s AI-focused systems, helping address component availability as the company pursues a larger role in data-center power and cooling. Vertiv Secures Infineon Supply Deal
• Neutral Sentiment: JPMorgan began coverage with a “neutral” rating and a $240 price target. The target suggests potential upside, but the rating signals the bank is not yet endorsing the shares as a clear outperformer. JPMorgan coverage of Vertiv

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VRT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. HSBC dropped their price target on Vertiv from $376.00 to $365.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Vertiv from $440.00 to $375.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Vertiv from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Vertiv from $340.00 to $345.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $320.00 price target on Vertiv and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Vertiv currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $333.70.

Vertiv Stock Performance

The company’s 50 day moving average price is $234.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $269.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.39. The stock has a market cap of $79.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 2.11.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The company reported $2.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.39. Vertiv had a return on equity of 53.31% and a net margin of 15.99%. The firm had revenue of $4.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.75 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.24 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 61.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Vertiv Holdings Co. will post 7.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vertiv Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 14th were paid a $0.0625 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 14th. This represents a $0.25 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. Vertiv’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 4.67%.

Insider Activity

In other Vertiv news, Director Edward Monser sold 15,287 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $253.82, for a total transaction of $3,880,146.34. Following the sale, the director owned 16,500 shares in the company, valued at $4,188,030. This represents a 48.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Vertiv

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Perpetual Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Vertiv by 6,110.5% during the 3rd quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 114,397 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,605,000 after purchasing an additional 112,555 shares during the last quarter. NFSG Corp boosted its stake in shares of Vertiv by 325.4% during the 3rd quarter. NFSG Corp now owns 8,984 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,168,000 after purchasing an additional 6,872 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its stake in Vertiv by 536.3% in the first quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 76,358 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,134,000 after buying an additional 64,358 shares in the last quarter. N10 Wealth LLC raised its stake in Vertiv by 34.2% in the third quarter. N10 Wealth LLC now owns 80,798 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,497,000 after buying an additional 20,604 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LDR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Vertiv by 111.5% in the third quarter. LDR Capital Management LLC now owns 13,749 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,318,000 after buying an additional 7,248 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.92% of the company’s stock.

About Vertiv

Vertiv Holdings Co. (NYSE: VRT) designs, manufactures and services critical digital infrastructure used by data centers, communications networks and commercial and industrial facilities. Its offerings help customers maintain reliable power, cooling and operating conditions for technology systems. The company’s products and solutions include uninterruptible power supplies, power distribution equipment, thermal management systems, racks, integrated modular infrastructure, and monitoring and control software.