Valliance Asset Management Ltd Acquires Shares of 20,000 Vertiv Holdings Co. (NYSE:VRT)

Key Points

• Valliance Asset Management Ltd has acquired 20,000 shares of Vertiv Holdings Co., valued at approximately $1.44 million, making it the firm's 9th largest position.
• Several institutional investors have increased their stakes in Vertiv, with Schroder Investment Management boosting its holdings by 95.3% to over 1.1 million shares.
• Vertiv recently declared a dividend of $0.0375 per share, representing a yield of 0.14%, an increase from its previous dividend of $0.01.

Valliance Asset Management Ltd acquired a new position in Vertiv Holdings Co. (NYSE:VRT - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 20,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,444,000. Vertiv accounts for about 3.3% of Valliance Asset Management Ltd's portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its position in shares of Vertiv by 95.3% during the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 1,167,536 shares of the company's stock valued at $135,621,000 after buying an additional 569,722 shares during the last quarter. Bedell Frazier Investment Counselling LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Vertiv during the fourth quarter valued at about $415,000. Ibex Wealth Advisors lifted its position in shares of Vertiv by 10.5% during the first quarter. Ibex Wealth Advisors now owns 73,739 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,324,000 after buying an additional 6,989 shares during the last quarter. Gallo Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of Vertiv during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,826,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA purchased a new stake in shares of Vertiv during the fourth quarter valued at about $597,379,000. 89.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Vertiv Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE VRT traded down $4.62 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $140.98. 8,048,733 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,524,041. The firm has a market cap of $53.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 67.61, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.75. Vertiv Holdings Co. has a twelve month low of $53.60 and a twelve month high of $155.84. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $121.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $104.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.12. The business 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 56.24%. The business's revenue was up 35.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.67 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Vertiv Holdings Co. will post 3.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vertiv Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 17th were paid 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 dividend payout ratio is 7.18%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on VRT shares. KGI Securities started coverage on shares of Vertiv in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. They issued a "hold" rating for the company. William Blair started coverage on shares of Vertiv in a research report on Monday. They issued an "outperform" rating for the company. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Vertiv from $140.00 to $151.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Melius raised 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. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Vertiv from $135.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $144.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Stephen Liang sold 43,683 shares of Vertiv stock in a transaction 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 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Karsten Winther sold 5,500 shares of Vertiv stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 18,847 shares in the company, valued at $1,777,837.51. This 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.

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.