Virtu Financial LLC Sells 37,580 Shares of Vertiv Holdings Co. (NYSE:VRT)

Key Points

• Virtu Financial LLC sold 37,580 shares of Vertiv Holdings Co., reducing its holdings by 83% to 7,679 shares, valued at $554,000.
• Multiple institutional investors have adjusted their positions in Vertiv, with hedge funds and institutional investors collectively owning 89.92% of the stock.
• Vertiv recently raised its dividend yield to 14.0%, up from the previous $0.01, reflecting a strong growth in revenue and earnings for the company.

Virtu Financial LLC trimmed its holdings in Vertiv Holdings Co. (NYSE:VRT - Free Report) by 83.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 7,679 shares of the company's stock after selling 37,580 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC's holdings in Vertiv were worth $554,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC increased its stake in shares of Vertiv by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 3,226 shares of the company's stock worth $367,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Utah Retirement Systems boosted its holdings in Vertiv by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Utah Retirement Systems now owns 39,300 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,465,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Wahed Invest LLC boosted its holdings in Vertiv by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 8,798 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,000,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the period. Ellevest Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Vertiv by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Ellevest Inc. now owns 2,393 shares of the company's stock valued at $272,000 after buying an additional 133 shares during the period. Finally, Commerce Bank lifted its stake in shares of Vertiv by 0.7% in the first quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 20,739 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,497,000 after buying an additional 134 shares during the period. 89.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Karsten Winther sold 41,654 shares of Vertiv stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.21, for a total transaction of $5,590,383.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 18,848 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,529,590.08. This trade represents a 68.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Stephen Liang sold 43,683 shares of Vertiv stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The stock was 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 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

A number of research analysts have commented on VRT shares. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Vertiv in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Evercore ISI reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Vertiv in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Barclays set a $128.00 target price on shares of Vertiv and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Melius Research raised shares of Vertiv from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $134.00 to $165.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Vertiv from $125.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Vertiv has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $144.06.

Vertiv Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:VRT traded down $4.95 during trading on Thursday, hitting $132.45. The company's stock had a trading volume of 8,116,607 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,774,719. The company has a 50-day moving average of $127.77 and a 200-day moving average of $105.01. Vertiv Holdings Co. has a 12 month low of $53.60 and a 12 month high of $155.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 1.74 and a quick ratio of 1.35. The firm has a market cap of $50.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 63.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.77.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.12. Vertiv had a net margin of 8.93% and a return on equity of 51.64%. The firm had revenue of $2.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.36 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.67 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 35.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect 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 issued a $0.0375 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 14.0%. This is a boost from Vertiv's previous dividend of $0.01. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. Vertiv's 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.