Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) Shares Up 1.5% – Time to Buy?

Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT) shares shot up 1.5% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $130.98 and last traded at $128.86. 1,416,037 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 8,179,224 shares. The stock had previously closed at $126.94.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on VRT shares. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Vertiv from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Vertiv in a research report on Monday, October 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price objective for the company. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Vertiv from $121.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Vertiv from $124.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, UBS Group started coverage on shares of Vertiv in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $155.00 price objective on the stock. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, Vertiv presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $138.50.

Vertiv Price Performance

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $114.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $96.32. The company has a market capitalization of $47.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 85.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60.

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

Vertiv Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 19th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.0375 per share. This represents a $0.15 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 3rd. This is an increase from Vertiv’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.03. Vertiv’s payout ratio is presently 6.67%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Karsten Winther sold 44,924 shares of Vertiv stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.99, for a total transaction of $3,593,470.76. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 10,542 shares in the company, valued at approximately $843,254.58. The trade was a 80.99 % 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, insider Anand Sanghi sold 30,914 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.46, for a total value of $4,373,094.44. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,448 shares of the company’s stock, 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 a total of 216,451 shares of company stock worth $26,699,153 over the last ninety days. 5.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vertiv

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRT. Anchor Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Vertiv in the second quarter worth $26,000. Mather Group LLC. increased its position in Vertiv by 132.5% in the 2nd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 351 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Krane Funds Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Vertiv during the 3rd quarter worth about $29,000. Global Trust Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Vertiv during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC grew its stake in shares of Vertiv by 200.0% in the 3rd quarter. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC now owns 300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.92% of the company’s stock.

Vertiv Company Profile

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.