Short Interest in Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT) Declines By 14.9%

Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 12,910,000 shares, a decrease of 14.9% from the November 30th total of 15,170,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 6,640,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.9 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Vertiv news, EVP Stephen Liang sold 86,619 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.07, for a total value of $11,353,152.33. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 19,551 shares in the company, valued at $2,562,549.57. The trade was a 81.59 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Jan Van Dokkum sold 38,647 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.39, for a total value of $5,271,064.33. Following the transaction, the director now owns 25,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,409,750. The trade was a 60.72 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 171,527 shares of company stock worth $23,105,682. 5.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VRT. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Vertiv by 430.5% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 165,557 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,471,000 after buying an additional 134,349 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC increased its position in shares of Vertiv by 31.6% during the third quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 843,058 shares of the company’s stock worth $83,876,000 after acquiring an additional 202,576 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Vertiv by 18.6% during the third quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 6,502 shares of the company’s stock valued at $660,000 after acquiring an additional 1,021 shares in the last quarter. Blankinship & Foster LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Vertiv in the third quarter valued at approximately $8,798,000. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in Vertiv in the third quarter worth approximately $584,000. 89.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on VRT. Citigroup upped their price objective on Vertiv from $141.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Vertiv from $126.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Vertiv in a report on Monday, October 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $125.00 target price on the stock. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Vertiv from $121.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Barclays started coverage on Vertiv in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $142.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $140.09.

Vertiv Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:VRT opened at $115.11 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The company has a market capitalization of $43.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 76.74, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.61. Vertiv has a 12 month low of $44.31 and a 12 month high of $145.67. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $122.17 and its 200 day moving average is $99.91.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.07. Vertiv had a return on equity of 55.33% and a net margin of 7.72%. The firm had revenue of $2.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.98 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.52 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Vertiv will post 2.69 EPS for the current year.

Vertiv Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 19th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were given a dividend of $0.0375 per share. This represents a $0.15 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.13%. This is an increase from Vertiv’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.03. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 3rd. Vertiv’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.67%.

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.