Benson Investment Management Company Inc. Makes New Investment in Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT)

Benson Investment Management Company Inc. bought a new stake in Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 62,410 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,506,000. Vertiv accounts for 2.0% of Benson Investment Management Company Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 28th largest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VRT. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Vertiv by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,356,089 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,130,415,000 after purchasing an additional 1,244,780 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Vertiv by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,050,965 shares of the company's stock valued at $688,260,000 after buying an additional 99,181 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA bought a new stake in shares of Vertiv during the fourth quarter worth about $597,379,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Vertiv by 25.3% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,905,807 shares of the company's stock worth $557,349,000 after acquiring an additional 990,361 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Vertiv by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,647,326 shares of the company's stock worth $414,373,000 after acquiring an additional 167,061 shares during the last quarter. 89.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Karsten Winther sold 5,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.33, for a total transaction of $518,815.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 18,847 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,777,837.51. This trade represents a 22.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.63% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on VRT shares. Evercore ISI reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $150.00 price target (up previously from $100.00) on shares of Vertiv in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Vertiv from $100.00 to $90.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Vertiv from $153.00 to $98.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Vertiv from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Roth Capital raised shares of Vertiv to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $122.38.

Vertiv Price Performance

Shares of VRT stock traded down $0.59 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $112.26. 4,809,062 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,836,877. Vertiv Holdings Co has a 12-month low of $53.60 and a 12-month high of $155.84. The company has a market capitalization of $42.78 billion, a PE ratio of 87.70, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.70. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $88.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $105.12. The company has a current ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.94 billion. Vertiv had a return on equity of 61.41% and a net margin of 6.19%. Vertiv's quarterly revenue was up 24.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.43 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Vertiv Holdings Co will post 3.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Vertiv Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th were given a dividend of $0.0375 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $0.15 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.13%. Vertiv's payout ratio is 8.72%.

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.