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

Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT - Get Free Report) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders acquired 35,466 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 47% compared to the average daily volume of 24,068 call options.

Vertiv Stock Up 6.8 %

Shares of NYSE VRT traded up $5.36 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $84.53. 28,768,103 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,897,745. The business's 50-day moving average price is $75.35 and its 200 day moving average price is $56.87. Vertiv has a twelve month low of $12.22 and a twelve month high of $94.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45. The company has a market capitalization of $32.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 71.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.59.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The company reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.03. Vertiv had a net margin of 6.71% and a return on equity of 39.46%. The business had revenue of $1.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.88 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.28 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Vertiv will post 2.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vertiv Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 19th were paid a $0.025 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 18th. This represents a $0.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.12%. Vertiv's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.47%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on VRT. Oppenheimer began coverage on shares of Vertiv in a report on Friday, April 5th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $96.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Vertiv from $65.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Vertiv from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Vertiv from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Vertiv from $69.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $74.56.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vertiv

In other news, CAO Scott Cripps sold 56,594 shares of Vertiv stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.76, for a total transaction of $4,004,591.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Stephen Liang sold 306,196 shares of Vertiv stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.24, for a total transaction of $21,507,207.04. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 51,841 shares in the company, valued at $3,641,311.84. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Scott Cripps sold 56,594 shares of Vertiv stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.76, for a total transaction of $4,004,591.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 5.62% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Vertiv

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Vertiv by 161.7% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 662 shares of the company's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 409 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in Vertiv during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Vertiv by 79.0% during the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 571 shares of the company's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares during the last quarter. Atticus Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Vertiv during the first quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Clearstead Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Vertiv during the third quarter valued at $38,000. 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.