Kentucky Retirement Systems Makes New Investment in Vertiv Holdings Co. (NYSE:VRT)

Kentucky Retirement Systems bought a new stake in Vertiv Holdings Co. (NYSE:VRT - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 24,441 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,765,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its position in Vertiv by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 4,784 shares of the company's stock worth $544,000 after buying an additional 265 shares in the last quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Vertiv in the fourth quarter valued at $324,000. Howard Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Vertiv by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,066 shares of the company's stock worth $348,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. World Equity Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Vertiv in the 4th quarter valued at $205,000. Finally, Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new stake in Vertiv during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,970,000. 89.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Stephen Liang sold 43,683 shares of Vertiv stock in a transaction 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 now directly owns 9,551 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,106,292.33. The trade was a 82.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Karsten Winther sold 5,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.33, for a total value of $518,815.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 18,847 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,777,837.51. This represents a 22.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 5.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on VRT shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded Vertiv from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Saturday. KGI Securities began coverage on Vertiv in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. They set a "hold" rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Vertiv from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Roth Mkm started coverage on shares of Vertiv in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $75.00 target price for the company. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on shares of Vertiv in a report on Friday, March 7th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $121.00 price objective for the company. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Vertiv has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $126.69.

Vertiv Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE VRT traded up $5.91 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $122.45. 6,602,221 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,639,571. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.72 and a quick ratio of 1.28. The company's 50-day moving average price is $100.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $103.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 71.19, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.73. Vertiv Holdings Co. has a 1-year low of $53.60 and a 1-year high of $155.84.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.02. Vertiv had a net margin of 7.92% and a return on equity of 56.01%. The firm had revenue of $2.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.43 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 24.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Vertiv Holdings Co. will post 3.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vertiv Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be given a dividend of $0.0375 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. This is a positive change from Vertiv's previous dividend of $0.01. This represents a yield of 0.14%. Vertiv's dividend 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.