Groupe la Francaise Makes New Investment in Vertiv Holdings Co. $VRT

Key Points

• Groupe la Francaise has acquired a new stake in Vertiv Holdings Co., purchasing 111,794 shares valued at approximately $8.76 million during the first quarter, as disclosed in a recent 13F filing.
• Analyst ratings for Vertiv are largely positive, with Mizuho and UBS Group raising their price targets to $150.00 and $173.00 respectively, reflecting growing confidence in the company's performance.
• Vertiv reported a strong quarterly performance with an earnings per share (EPS) of $0.95, exceeding analyst expectations and marking a 35.1% increase in revenue year-over-year.

Groupe la Francaise bought a new position in shares of Vertiv Holdings Co. (NYSE:VRT - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 111,794 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,760,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Blue Whale Capital LLP lifted its holdings in Vertiv by 29.1% during the first quarter. Blue Whale Capital LLP now owns 732,118 shares of the company's stock worth $52,859,000 after buying an additional 165,172 shares during the period. Strategies Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Vertiv during the first quarter worth $406,000. Kestra Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in Vertiv by 42.4% during the first quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 41,267 shares of the company's stock worth $2,979,000 after buying an additional 12,291 shares during the period. Arnhold LLC lifted its holdings in Vertiv by 41.2% during the first quarter. Arnhold LLC now owns 306,217 shares of the company's stock worth $22,109,000 after buying an additional 89,370 shares during the period. Finally, Mccarter Private Wealth Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Vertiv by 8.5% during the 1st quarter. Mccarter Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 4,741 shares of the company's stock valued at $342,000 after purchasing an additional 370 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.92% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on VRT. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Vertiv from $140.00 to $151.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Vertiv in a report on Friday, July 11th. Rothschild Redb upgraded Vertiv to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. Mizuho increased their price objective on Vertiv from $125.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Vertiv from $130.00 to $149.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $142.00.

Vertiv Stock Performance

VRT stock traded down $0.90 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $125.07. The stock had a trading volume of 4,607,954 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,173,686. The stock has a market cap of $47.76 billion, a PE ratio of 59.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.74. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $129.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $105.55. Vertiv Holdings Co. has a 52-week low of $53.60 and a 52-week high of $155.84.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) 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 return on equity of 51.64% and a net margin of 8.93%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 35.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.67 EPS. Vertiv has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 0.940-1.000 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th were given a dividend of $0.0375 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a yield of 14.0%. This is an increase from Vertiv's previous dividend of $0.01. Vertiv's payout ratio is 7.18%.

Insider Activity

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

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.