Raymond James Financial Inc. Sells 249,825 Shares of Vertiv Holdings Co. $VRT

Raymond James Financial Inc. lowered its position in Vertiv Holdings Co. (NYSE:VRT - Free Report) by 11.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,026,214 shares of the company's stock after selling 249,825 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned about 0.53% of Vertiv worth $146,293,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in VRT. Ibex Wealth Advisors boosted its stake in Vertiv by 10.5% in the 1st quarter. Ibex Wealth Advisors now owns 73,739 shares of the company's stock worth $5,324,000 after purchasing an additional 6,989 shares during the period. Gallo Partners LP acquired a new position in Vertiv in the 4th quarter worth $1,826,000. Viking Fund Management LLC boosted its stake in Vertiv by 123.5% in the 1st quarter. Viking Fund Management LLC now owns 38,000 shares of the company's stock worth $2,744,000 after purchasing an additional 21,000 shares during the period. FengHe Fund Management Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in Vertiv in the 1st quarter worth $33,389,000. Finally, Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Vertiv in the 1st quarter worth $475,000. Institutional investors own 89.92% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other Vertiv news, insider Karsten Winther sold 41,654 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.21, for a total value of $5,590,383.34. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 18,848 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,529,590.08. This represents a 68.85% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Stephen Liang sold 43,683 shares of the 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,106,292.33. This represents a 82.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 5.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on VRT. Melius Research raised shares of Vertiv from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $134.00 to $165.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Melius raised shares of Vertiv from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $165.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Roth Capital upped their target price 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. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Vertiv from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Vertiv in a research note on Sunday, August 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Vertiv presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $144.06.

Vertiv Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of VRT stock opened at $132.86 on Monday. 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 50-day moving average is $128.12 and its 200-day moving average is $105.09. The stock has a market cap of $50.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 63.57, a PEG ratio of 1.17 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $2.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.36 billion. Vertiv had a net margin of 8.93% and a return on equity of 51.64%. The business's revenue was up 35.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.67 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Vertiv Holdings Co. will post 3.59 EPS for the current year.

Vertiv Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th were issued a $0.0375 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a yield of 14.0%. This is an increase from Vertiv's previous dividend of $0.01. Vertiv's payout ratio is currently 7.18%.

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.

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