N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC Makes New $549,000 Investment in Vertiv Holdings Co. (NYSE:VRT)

Key Points

• N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC acquired 7,602 shares of Vertiv Holdings Co., worth approximately $549,000, in the first quarter of the fiscal year.
• Several institutional investors significantly increased their stakes in Vertiv during the fourth quarter, with Massachusetts Financial Services Co. acquiring a new stake valued at about $597 million.
• Vertiv recently increased its dividend from $0.01 to $0.0375, representing a yield of 0.14% with a payout ratio of 8.72%.

N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in Vertiv Holdings Co. (NYSE:VRT - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 7,602 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $549,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Vertiv by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,050,965 shares of the company's stock worth $688,260,000 after acquiring an additional 99,181 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA purchased a new stake in shares of Vertiv in the fourth quarter worth $597,379,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Vertiv by 25.3% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,905,807 shares of the company's stock worth $557,349,000 after acquiring an additional 990,361 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Vertiv by 21.9% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,713,234 shares of the company's stock worth $308,251,000 after acquiring an additional 487,909 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in shares of Vertiv by 15.8% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,404,712 shares of the company's stock worth $273,199,000 after acquiring an additional 327,900 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.92% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on VRT shares. Melius Research raised Vertiv from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $134.00 to $165.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. KGI Securities initiated coverage on Vertiv in a report on Thursday, April 24th. They issued a "hold" rating for the company. Roth Mkm initiated coverage on Vertiv in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $75.00 price objective for the company. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Vertiv from $125.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Vertiv in a report on Friday, July 11th. Three research 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $144.06.

Insider Activity at Vertiv

In related news, EVP Stephen Liang sold 43,683 shares of Vertiv stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 9,551 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,106,292.33. This trade represents a 82.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Karsten Winther sold 5,500 shares of Vertiv stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.33, for a total value of $518,815.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 18,847 shares in the company, valued at $1,777,837.51. This trade represents a 22.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Vertiv Stock Performance

NYSE:VRT traded down $5.04 on Friday, hitting $140.56. The stock had a trading volume of 7,614,951 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,522,478. Vertiv Holdings Co. has a 52-week low of $53.60 and a 52-week high of $155.84. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The stock has a market cap of $53.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 67.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.75. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $121.71 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $104.78.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 56.24% and a net margin of 8.93%. The firm had revenue of $2.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.36 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.67 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 35.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a yield of 14.0%. Vertiv's dividend payout ratio is 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.