Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) Shares Down 3.5% – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT) fell 3.5% during trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $113.70 and last traded at $114.67. 1,433,155 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 82% from the average session volume of 8,007,207 shares. The stock had previously closed at $118.88.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on VRT shares. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Vertiv in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $155.00 target price on the stock. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Vertiv from $121.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Vertiv from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Vertiv from $126.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Vertiv in a report on Monday, October 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price objective on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $140.09.

Vertiv Stock Down 3.2 %

The stock has a market cap of $43.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 76.74, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.61. 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’s fifty day moving average is $122.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $99.84.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 business 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 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Vertiv Holdings Co will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vertiv Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 19th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.0375 per share. This represents a $0.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.13%. This is a positive change from Vertiv’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.03. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 3rd. Vertiv’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Vertiv news, EVP Stephen Liang sold 86,619 shares of Vertiv stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.07, for a total transaction of $11,353,152.33. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,562,549.57. The trade was a 81.59 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Jakki L. Haussler sold 15,347 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.38, for a total value of $2,108,370.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 3,425 shares in the company, valued at approximately $470,526.50. The trade was a 81.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 171,527 shares of company stock worth $23,105,682 over the last 90 days. 5.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vertiv

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Vertiv by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,635,081 shares of the company’s stock valued at $759,614,000 after buying an additional 308,704 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Vertiv by 7.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,951,784 shares of the company’s stock valued at $592,433,000 after acquiring an additional 408,054 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in Vertiv by 10,825.0% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,600,415 shares of the company’s stock valued at $457,695,000 after acquiring an additional 4,558,306 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Vertiv by 271.0% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,915,446 shares of the company’s stock worth $389,548,000 after purchasing an additional 2,860,181 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA acquired a new stake in shares of Vertiv during the second quarter worth about $331,091,000. 89.92% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.