Short Interest in Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT) Drops By 26.7%

Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT - Get Free Report) saw a significant decline in short interest in the month of May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 12,460,000 shares, a decline of 26.7% from the April 30th total of 16,990,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 10,670,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.2 days. Currently, 3.5% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on VRT. Evercore ISI restated an "outperform" rating and set a $150.00 price target (up previously from $100.00) on shares of Vertiv in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Vertiv from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada started coverage on Vertiv in a research note on Friday, March 7th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $121.00 target price for the company. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Vertiv from $153.00 to $98.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Vertiv from $135.00 to $85.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $122.38.

Insider Activity at Vertiv

In other news, 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 18,847 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,777,837.51. The trade was a 22.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vertiv

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in shares of Vertiv by 67.0% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 9,180 shares of the company's stock worth $1,043,000 after acquiring an additional 3,682 shares during the period. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC purchased a new stake in Vertiv during the 4th quarter worth about $1,218,000. Schroder Investment Management Group raised its position in Vertiv by 95.3% in the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 1,167,536 shares of the company's stock valued at $135,621,000 after purchasing an additional 569,722 shares in the last quarter. Bedell Frazier Investment Counselling LLC acquired a new stake in Vertiv in the 4th quarter valued at about $415,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Vertiv by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,746,111 shares of the company's stock valued at $198,376,000 after buying an additional 45,917 shares during the period. 89.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Vertiv Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of VRT traded up $2.03 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $114.37. 1,255,463 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,859,622. Vertiv has a 52-week low of $53.60 and a 52-week high of $155.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.65. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $87.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $105.06. The firm has a market cap of $43.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 89.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.70.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $2.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. Vertiv had a return on equity of 61.41% and a net margin of 6.19%. Vertiv's revenue was up 24.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.43 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Vertiv will post 3.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vertiv Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th were paid a dividend of $0.0375 per share. This represents a $0.15 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 18th. Vertiv's payout ratio is currently 8.72%.

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.