Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) Trading Down 1% After Analyst Downgrade

Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT)’s share price dropped 1% during trading on Friday after Barclays lowered their price target on the stock from $142.00 to $131.00. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Vertiv traded as low as $105.86 and last traded at $108.21. Approximately 2,279,076 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 78% from the average daily volume of 10,165,570 shares. The stock had previously closed at $109.28.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Fox Advisors initiated coverage on Vertiv in a research report on Monday, January 6th. They set an “equal weight” rating for the company. Citigroup increased their target price on Vertiv from $141.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Mizuho increased their target price on Vertiv from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Vertiv from $124.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley started coverage on Vertiv in a research note on Monday, January 6th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $150.00 price target for the company. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $138.57.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Jakki L. Haussler sold 15,347 shares of Vertiv stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $470,526.50. This trade represents a 81.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Stephen Liang sold 86,619 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.07, for a total value of $11,353,152.33. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 19,551 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,562,549.57. This trade represents a 81.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 171,527 shares of company stock worth $23,105,682. 5.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRT. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA purchased a new position in Vertiv during the 4th quarter worth $597,379,000. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in Vertiv by 10,825.0% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,600,415 shares of the company’s stock worth $457,695,000 after acquiring an additional 4,558,306 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Vertiv during the 4th quarter worth about $391,777,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Vertiv by 271.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,915,446 shares of the company’s stock worth $389,548,000 after acquiring an additional 2,860,181 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in Vertiv by 136.9% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,336,862 shares of the company’s stock worth $379,101,000 after acquiring an additional 1,928,275 shares during the period. 89.92% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Vertiv Trading Down 0.7 %

The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $123.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $108.12. 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 cap of $40.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 72.41, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.64.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.99 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.15. Vertiv had a return on equity of 55.33% and a net margin of 7.72%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.56 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Vertiv Holdings Co will post 2.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vertiv Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $0.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.14%. This is a boost from Vertiv’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.03. Vertiv’s payout ratio is currently 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.