Liontrust Investment Partners LLP Grows Stock Holdings in Vertiv Holdings Co. (NYSE:VRT)

Key Points

• Liontrust Investment Partners LLP increased its holdings in Vertiv Holdings Co. by 67.8% in the first quarter, now owning 67,464 shares valued at approximately $4.87 million.
• Other institutional investors, including Vanguard Group Inc. and Dimensional Fund Advisors LP, have also boosted their positions in Vertiv, with 89.92% of the stock now owned by institutional investors.
• Vertiv recently increased its dividend to $0.0375 per share, significantly higher than the previous amount, reflecting a yield of 14.0%.

Liontrust Investment Partners LLP grew its holdings in Vertiv Holdings Co. (NYSE:VRT - Free Report) by 67.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 67,464 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 27,261 shares during the quarter. Liontrust Investment Partners LLP's holdings in Vertiv were worth $4,871,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Vertiv by 3.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,715,159 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,723,034,000 after purchasing an additional 1,359,070 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Vertiv by 6.9% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,839,864 shares of the company's stock valued at $205,085,000 after purchasing an additional 182,937 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Vertiv by 21.9% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,713,234 shares of the company's stock valued at $308,251,000 after purchasing an additional 487,909 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in Vertiv by 54.1% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,314,934 shares of the company's stock valued at $263,000,000 after purchasing an additional 812,389 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Vertiv by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,112,929 shares of the company's stock valued at $240,051,000 after purchasing an additional 77,859 shares during the period. 89.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Vertiv

In related news, EVP Stephen Liang sold 43,683 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 9,551 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,106,292.33. This represents a 82.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Karsten Winther sold 41,654 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.21, for a total transaction of $5,590,383.34. Following the sale, the insider owned 18,848 shares in the company, valued at $2,529,590.08. This represents a 68.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.63% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Vertiv Trading Down 3.6%

Vertiv stock opened at $132.45 on Friday. 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 has a 50-day moving average price of $127.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $105.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 63.37, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.77. 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 posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $2.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. Vertiv had a net margin of 8.93% and a return on equity of 51.64%. Vertiv's revenue was up 35.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.67 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Vertiv Holdings Co. will post 3.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Vertiv Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. 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. Roth Capital boosted their price target on shares of Vertiv from $100.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Vertiv from $140.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Melius Research upgraded shares of Vertiv from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $134.00 to $165.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Vertiv in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $144.06.

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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