Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) Trading Down 2.2% – Here’s What Happened

Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT) dropped 2.2% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $113.39 and last traded at $113.61. Approximately 3,427,458 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 57% from the average daily volume of 7,981,975 shares. The stock had previously closed at $116.16.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Vertiv from $126.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Vertiv from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Vertiv from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Vertiv from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Vertiv from $121.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $140.09.

Vertiv Stock Up 4.1 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.38. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $122.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $100.30. The firm has a market cap of $44.40 billion, a PE ratio of 78.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.61.

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

Vertiv Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 yield of 0.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 3rd. This is an increase from Vertiv’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.03. Vertiv’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 6.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vertiv

In other news, Director Jakki L. Haussler sold 15,347 shares of Vertiv stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 3,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $470,526.50. The trade was a 81.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Anand Sanghi sold 30,914 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.46, for a total transaction of $4,373,094.44. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 19,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,751,114.08. This trade represents a 61.38 % 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.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vertiv

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its position in Vertiv by 15.4% during the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,553,001 shares of the company’s stock worth $221,013,000 after acquiring an additional 340,639 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Vertiv by 7.2% during the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 127,210 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,656,000 after purchasing an additional 8,579 shares during the period. Janney Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Vertiv in the 3rd quarter valued at $8,403,000. Gordian Capital Singapore Pte Ltd increased its stake in Vertiv by 112.5% in the 3rd quarter. Gordian Capital Singapore Pte Ltd now owns 8,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $846,000 after buying an additional 4,500 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Vertiv by 190.7% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 55,923 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,564,000 after buying an additional 36,684 shares during the period. 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.