Blair William & Co. IL Trims Stock Position in Vertiv Holdings Co. (NYSE:VRT)

Key Points

• Blair William & Co. IL has reduced its holdings in Vertiv Holdings Co. by 44.9%, now owning $2.95 million worth of shares.
• Large investors such as National Bank of Canada FI and Envestnet Asset Management Inc. have increased their stakes in Vertiv, reflecting shifting institutional interest.
• Vertiv recently declared a dividend increase to $0.0375 per share, representing a yield of 14.0%, up from its previous dividend of $0.01.

Blair William & Co. IL decreased its position in shares of Vertiv Holdings Co. (NYSE:VRT - Free Report) by 44.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 40,854 shares of the company's stock after selling 33,304 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL's holdings in Vertiv were worth $2,950,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Colonial Trust Co SC grew its holdings in shares of Vertiv by 211.9% during 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 period. Ameriflex Group Inc. acquired a new position in Vertiv in the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. GW&K Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Vertiv during the first quarter worth about $26,000. BNP Paribas purchased a new position in Vertiv during the fourth quarter worth about $45,000. Finally, North Star Investment Management Corp. increased its position in shares of Vertiv by 4,120.0% during the first quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 422 shares of the company's stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 412 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.92% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Vertiv from $125.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Vertiv from $127.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Wolfe Research reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $155.00 price objective on shares of Vertiv in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Roth Capital increased their target price on Vertiv from $100.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Vertiv from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $144.06.

Insider Transactions at Vertiv

In other news, EVP Stephen Liang sold 43,683 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 9,551 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,106,292.33. This represents a 82.06% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 2.63% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Vertiv Stock Up 0.4%

NYSE:VRT traded up $0.51 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $139.90. The stock had a trading volume of 3,728,787 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,917,655. Vertiv Holdings Co. has a twelve month low of $53.60 and a twelve month high of $155.84. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $125.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $105.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. The company has a market capitalization of $53.32 billion, a PE ratio of 66.94, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.77.

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

Vertiv Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th were issued a dividend of $0.0375 per share. This is a positive change from Vertiv's previous dividend of $0.01. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a yield of 14.0%. Vertiv's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.18%.

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.