US Bancorp DE Raises Stock Position in Vertiv Holdings Co. (NYSE:VRT)

Key Points

• US Bancorp DE increased its stake in Vertiv Holdings Co. by 30%, acquiring an additional 160,160 shares in the first quarter, bringing their total ownership to approximately $50 million.
• Insider transactions revealed that two executives sold a significant number of shares, with EVP Stephen Liang selling 43,683 shares, marking an 82.06% decrease in his ownership.
• Several brokerages have recently raised their price targets for Vertiv, with Citigroup and Royal Bank of Canada boosting their price objectives significantly, reflecting a generally positive outlook from analysts.

US Bancorp DE grew its stake in shares of Vertiv Holdings Co. (NYSE:VRT - Free Report) by 30.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 694,127 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 160,160 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE owned about 0.18% of Vertiv worth $50,116,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Harbour Investments Inc. boosted its position in shares of Vertiv by 130.5% in the 1st quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 2,238 shares of the company's stock worth $162,000 after buying an additional 1,267 shares in the last quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC increased its holdings in Vertiv by 9.1% during the 1st quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 11,703 shares of the company's stock valued at $845,000 after acquiring an additional 979 shares in the last quarter. Lyell Wealth Management LP raised its position in Vertiv by 108.1% during the first quarter. Lyell Wealth Management LP now owns 74,202 shares of the company's stock worth $5,357,000 after acquiring an additional 38,553 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Vertiv by 23.1% in the first quarter. Private Advisory Group LLC now owns 83,016 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,994,000 after purchasing an additional 15,587 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arkadios Wealth Advisors grew its position in shares of Vertiv by 170.1% in the first quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 16,841 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,216,000 after purchasing an additional 10,605 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.92% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Vertiv

In related news, EVP Stephen Liang sold 43,683 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.83, for a total value of $5,059,801.89. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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 transaction of $518,815.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 18,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,777,837.51. This trade represents a 22.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.63% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on VRT. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Vertiv from $130.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. KGI Securities assumed coverage on Vertiv in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. They set a "hold" rating for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on Vertiv from $143.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Vertiv from $127.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Vertiv from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $144.06.

Vertiv Price Performance

Vertiv stock opened at $141.66 on Friday. Vertiv Holdings Co. has a 1 year low of $53.60 and a 1 year high of $155.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.74. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $122.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $104.87. The company has a market cap of $53.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 67.78, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.77.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $2.64 billion during 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 quarterly revenue was up 35.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.67 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Vertiv Holdings Co. will post 3.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Vertiv Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders 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 was Monday, June 16th. 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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