Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Sells 2,380 Shares of Vertiv Holdings Co. (NYSE:VRT)

Key Points

• Maryland State Retirement & Pension System reduced its stake in Vertiv Holdings Co. by 12.5% during the 1st quarter, resulting in ownership of 16,735 shares worth $1,208,000.
• Several institutional investors, including North Star Investment Management Corp and Sachetta LLC, significantly increased their stakes in Vertiv, indicating growing interest in the company among hedge funds.
• Vertiv recently declared a boosted dividend of $0.0375 per share, a significant increase from the previous amount of $0.01, showcasing a strong return on investment for shareholders.

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System decreased its holdings in Vertiv Holdings Co. (NYSE:VRT - Free Report) by 12.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,735 shares of the company's stock after selling 2,380 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System's holdings in Vertiv were worth $1,208,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of VRT. Colonial Trust Co SC grew its holdings in shares of Vertiv by 211.9% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Vertiv during the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. GW&K Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Vertiv during the first quarter worth about $26,000. BNP Paribas acquired a new stake in shares of Vertiv during the fourth quarter worth about $45,000. Finally, North Star Investment Management Corp. boosted its stake 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 worth $30,000 after buying an additional 412 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.92% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Vertiv

In other Vertiv news, EVP Stephen Liang sold 43,683 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 9,551 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,106,292.33. The trade was a 82.06% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 5.01% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on VRT shares. William Blair assumed coverage on shares of Vertiv in a research note on Monday, July 28th. They set an "outperform" rating for the company. KGI Securities assumed coverage on shares of Vertiv in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. They issued a "hold" rating for the company. Melius upgraded shares of Vertiv from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $165.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Vertiv from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, June 21st. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective 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. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $144.06.

Vertiv Stock Up 2.9%

Shares of NYSE:VRT traded up $3.99 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $143.82. 6,185,424 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,620,705. Vertiv Holdings Co. has a twelve month low of $53.60 and a twelve month high of $155.84. The company has a market cap of $54.92 billion, a PE ratio of 41.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 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's fifty day moving average price is $126.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $104.31.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $2.64 billion for 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%. Vertiv's revenue for the quarter was up 35.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.67 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Vertiv Holdings Co. will post 3.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vertiv Increases Dividend

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

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.