Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) in a research report report published on Monday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued an overweight rating and a $150.00 target price on the stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on VRT. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Vertiv from $121.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Vertiv from $141.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Vertiv in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $142.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Vertiv from $124.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Vertiv from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Vertiv presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $140.92.

Vertiv Stock Up 6.7 %

NYSE VRT opened at $134.07 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. Vertiv has a 52 week low of $46.62 and a 52 week high of $145.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 89.38, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a fifty day moving average of $123.23 and a two-hundred day moving average of $101.06.

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

Vertiv Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 19th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were given a dividend of $0.0375 per share. This represents a $0.15 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.11%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 3rd. This is a boost from Vertiv’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.03. Vertiv’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.67%.

Insider Transactions at Vertiv

In related news, EVP Stephen Liang sold 86,619 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.07, for a total transaction of $11,353,152.33. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 transaction 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 stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 19,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,751,114.08. The trade was a 61.38 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 171,527 shares of company stock valued at $23,105,682. Corporate insiders own 5.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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

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.