Investors Buy Large Volume of Vertiv Call Options (NYSE:VRT)

Key Points

• Vertiv Holdings Co. experienced a surge in call options trading, with 60,131 options traded, marking a 45% increase over its average daily volume.
• Analysts have issued favorable ratings for Vertiv, with the stock currently having an average rating of "Buy" and a target price of $144.06, including several upgraded to "strong-buy" ratings.
• The company reported strong financials in its latest earnings, exceeding analyst expectations with $0.95 earnings per share and a revenue increase of 35.1% year-over-year.

Vertiv Holdings Co. (NYSE:VRT - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Traders bought 60,131 call options on the stock. Thisisanincreaseof45% compared to the average daily volume of 41,590 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Vertiv to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Vertiv from $140.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Vertiv from $135.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Vertiv from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, June 21st. Finally, Bank of America boosted 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $144.06.

Vertiv Stock Performance

VRT stock traded up $2.53 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $135.60. 3,246,615 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,278,168. The stock has a market cap of $51.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 64.88, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.77. Vertiv has a 52-week low of $53.60 and a 52-week high of $155.84. The stock's 50-day moving average is $128.12 and its 200 day moving average is $105.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.67 earnings per share. Vertiv's revenue for the quarter was up 35.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Vertiv will post 3.59 EPS for the current year.

Vertiv Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other Vertiv news, insider Karsten Winther sold 41,654 shares of the business's 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 in the company, valued at $2,529,590.08. The trade was a 68.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Stephen Liang sold 43,683 shares of the business's 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 owned 9,551 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,106,292.33. The trade was a 82.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 5.01% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vertiv

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Vertiv by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,006,755 shares of the company's stock worth $4,880,447,000 after buying an additional 291,596 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Vertiv by 5.7% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,269,839 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,061,930,000 after buying an additional 442,937 shares in the last quarter. Amundi boosted its stake in Vertiv by 96.8% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 6,951,773 shares of the company's stock worth $469,490,000 after purchasing an additional 3,420,144 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Vertiv by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,686,778 shares of the company's stock worth $856,082,000 after purchasing an additional 219,970 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Vertiv by 20.9% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,931,488 shares of the company's stock worth $761,662,000 after buying an additional 1,024,634 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.92% of the company's stock.

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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