Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) Research Coverage Started at Barclays

Barclays began coverage on shares of Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) in a report released on Thursday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm issued an equal weight rating and a $142.00 price target on the stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Vertiv from $124.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. UBS Group initiated coverage on Vertiv in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $155.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Vertiv from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Vertiv in a report on Monday, October 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $125.00 target price for the company. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price target on Vertiv from $115.00 to $141.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $140.09.

Vertiv Price Performance

Vertiv stock opened at $125.78 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $120.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $98.16. Vertiv has a one year low of $44.31 and a one year high of $145.67. The company has a market capitalization of $47.21 billion, a PE ratio of 83.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.61.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.07. The business 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%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.52 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Vertiv will post 2.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vertiv Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 19th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.0375 per share. This is an increase from Vertiv’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.03. This represents a $0.15 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.12%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. Vertiv’s payout ratio is currently 6.67%.

Insider Transactions at Vertiv

In other Vertiv news, EVP Stephen Liang sold 86,619 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 19,551 shares in the company, valued at $2,562,549.57. This trade represents a 81.59 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Jan Van Dokkum sold 38,647 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.39, for a total value of $5,271,064.33. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 25,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,409,750. The trade was a 60.72 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, 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

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Anchor Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Vertiv in the second quarter valued at $26,000. Krane Funds Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Vertiv during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Global Trust Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Vertiv during the third quarter worth $30,000. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC increased its stake in Vertiv by 200.0% in the third quarter. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC now owns 300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in Vertiv during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. 89.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.