Melius Research Upgrades Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) to "Strong-Buy"

Melius Research upgraded shares of Vertiv (NYSE:VRT - Free Report) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has $165.00 price objective on the stock, up from their prior price objective of $134.00.

VRT has been the subject of several other research reports. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Vertiv from $100.00 to $90.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Citigroup increased their target price on Vertiv from $98.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Vertiv from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, June 21st. Melius upgraded shares of Vertiv from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $165.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Evercore ISI restated an "outperform" rating and set a $150.00 price objective (up previously from $100.00) on shares of Vertiv in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $132.94.

Vertiv Trading Up 2.1%

NYSE:VRT traded up $2.59 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $128.48. 2,132,707 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,519,349. The company's 50 day moving average is $110.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $103.53. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The company has a market capitalization of $48.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 74.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.75. Vertiv has a twelve month low of $53.60 and a twelve month high of $155.84.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.02. Vertiv had a net margin of 7.92% and a return on equity of 56.01%. The company had revenue of $2.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.43 EPS. The company's revenue was up 24.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Vertiv will post 3.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vertiv Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 17th were issued a dividend of $0.0375 per share. This represents a yield of 0.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This is a positive change from Vertiv's previous dividend of $0.01. Vertiv's dividend payout ratio is presently 8.72%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Stephen Liang sold 43,683 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 9,551 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,106,292.33. This represents a 82.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed 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 dated Friday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.33, for a total value of $518,815.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 5.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Vertiv

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of VRT. Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in Vertiv by 2,000.0% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 546 shares of the company's stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 520 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Vertiv during the 4th quarter worth about $14,495,000. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich boosted its holdings in shares of Vertiv by 8.4% during the 4th quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 2,325 shares of the company's stock worth $291,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in Vertiv by 17.4% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 32,954 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,744,000 after buying an additional 4,888 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Vertiv by 30.5% in the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,095 shares of the company's stock valued at $124,000 after acquiring an additional 256 shares during the period. 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.