L & S Advisors Inc Lowers Position in Vertiv Holdings Co. (NYSE:VRT)

Key Points

• L & S Advisors Inc has reduced its position in Vertiv Holdings Co. by 14.8% in the first quarter, holding 14,651 shares valued at approximately $1,058,000.
• Insider Karsten Winther and EVP Stephen Liang both sold significant portions of their shares, with Liang's transaction reducing his holdings by 82.06%.
• Vertiv's stock has been upgraded by multiple analysts, with price targets reaching up to $151.00 and an average rating of "Moderate Buy."

L & S Advisors Inc decreased its holdings in shares of Vertiv Holdings Co. (NYSE:VRT - Free Report) by 14.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,651 shares of the company's stock after selling 2,545 shares during the quarter. L & S Advisors Inc's holdings in Vertiv were worth $1,058,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Vertiv by 264.4% during the first quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 758 shares of the company's stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 550 shares during the last quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Vertiv by 14.3% during the 1st quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 23,958 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,730,000 after buying an additional 3,006 shares in the last quarter. Liberty Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Vertiv by 16.9% in the 1st quarter. Liberty Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,336 shares of the company's stock worth $313,000 after buying an additional 628 shares during the last quarter. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG boosted its stake in Vertiv by 95.5% in the first quarter. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG now owns 30,877 shares of the company's stock worth $2,229,000 after buying an additional 15,085 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia grew its position in Vertiv by 17.5% during the first quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 19,527 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,410,000 after acquiring an additional 2,912 shares during the last quarter. 89.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Vertiv

In other Vertiv news, insider Karsten Winther sold 5,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.33, for a total value of $518,815.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 18,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,777,837.51. This represents a 22.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Stephen Liang sold 43,683 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.83, for a total transaction of $5,059,801.89. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 9,551 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,106,292.33. This trade represents a 82.06% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 5.01% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VRT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Vertiv from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Mizuho lifted 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. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Vertiv from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. KGI Securities began coverage on Vertiv in a report on Thursday, April 24th. They issued a "hold" rating on the stock. Finally, Oppenheimer set a $151.00 target price on Vertiv and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $144.06.

Vertiv Stock Performance

NYSE:VRT opened at $141.66 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $122.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $104.48. The stock has a market cap of $53.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 67.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 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.

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

Vertiv Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 17th were given a dividend of $0.0375 per share. This is a boost from Vertiv's previous dividend of $0.01. This represents a dividend yield of 14.0%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Vertiv's dividend payout ratio is presently 7.18%.

Vertiv 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.

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