Vertiv Holdings Co. $VRT Stock Position Reduced by American Century Companies Inc.

Key Points

• American Century Companies Inc. has reduced its stake in Vertiv Holdings Co. by 20.7%, selling 688,898 shares and now holding approximately 0.69% of the company, valued at about $190.1 million.
• Vertiv recently reported a significant increase in quarterly earnings, with earnings per share hitting $0.95, which exceeds analysts' expectations, and a year-over-year revenue growth of 35.1%.
• The company has increased its dividend from $0.01 to $0.0375 per share, yielding 14.0%, which indicates a positive return for shareholders.

American Century Companies Inc. cut its stake in Vertiv Holdings Co. (NYSE:VRT - Free Report) by 20.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,633,629 shares of the company's stock after selling 688,898 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 0.69% of Vertiv worth $190,148,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRT. Colonial Trust Co SC increased its position in shares of Vertiv by 211.9% in the 4th quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 315 shares of the company's stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares during the last quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Vertiv in the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. GW&K Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Vertiv in the 1st quarter worth about $26,000. SouthState Corp bought a new stake in shares of Vertiv in the 1st quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, BNP Paribas bought a new stake in shares of Vertiv in the 4th quarter worth about $45,000. 89.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Karsten Winther sold 41,654 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.21, for a total value of $5,590,383.34. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 18,848 shares in the company, valued at $2,529,590.08. The trade was a 68.85% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Stephen Liang sold 43,683 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.83, for a total transaction of $5,059,801.89. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 9,551 shares in the company, valued at $1,106,292.33. The trade was a 82.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 5.01% of the company's stock.

Vertiv Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:VRT traded up $0.34 during trading on Friday, reaching $132.86. The company had a trading volume of 6,204,076 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,803,008. The firm's fifty day moving average is $128.12 and its 200 day moving average is $105.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.74 billion, a PE ratio of 63.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.77. Vertiv Holdings Co. has a twelve month low of $53.60 and a twelve month high of $155.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.74.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $2.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. Vertiv had a net margin of 8.93% and a return on equity of 51.64%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 35.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.67 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Vertiv Holdings Co. will post 3.59 EPS for the current year.

Vertiv Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th were paid a $0.0375 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a dividend yield of 14.0%. This is an increase from Vertiv's previous dividend of $0.01. Vertiv's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.18%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Vertiv from $125.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Melius raised shares of Vertiv from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $165.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Barclays set a $128.00 target price on shares of Vertiv and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Roth Capital lifted their price target on shares of Vertiv from $100.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, Melius Research raised shares of Vertiv from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $134.00 to $165.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $144.06.

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.