Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Vertiv was downgraded by Wall Street Zen from “strong-buy” to “buy”, though the broader analyst view remains constructive with a Moderate Buy consensus and a $281.29 average price target.
• The company reported better-than-expected quarterly results, including EPS of $1.17 versus the $1.00 estimate and revenue of $2.65 billion, up 30.1% year over year.
• Vertiv’s stock has risen sharply, opening at $340.02 with a 52-week range of $92.13 to $359.84, while insider selling totaled 489,761 shares in the last quarter.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT - Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note issued to investors on Sunday.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on VRT. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $330.00 price target on shares of Vertiv in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Vertiv from $344.00 to $356.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Vertiv from $269.00 to $347.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $281.00 target price on shares of Vertiv in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "hold" rating and set a $260.00 price target (down from $280.00) on shares of Vertiv in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. Twenty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $281.29.

Vertiv Price Performance

Shares of VRT opened at $340.02 on Friday. Vertiv has a 52 week low of $92.13 and a 52 week high of $359.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The firm has a market cap of $130.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 85.43, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 2.09. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $280.39 and a 200-day moving average of $217.77.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The company reported $1.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.63 billion. Vertiv had a return on equity of 49.90% and a net margin of 14.37%.The business's revenue was up 30.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.64 EPS. Vertiv has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 1.370-1.430 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 6.300-6.400 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Vertiv will post 6.42 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Vertiv

In other news, Director Edward L. Monser sold 77,294 shares of Vertiv stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.49, for a total transaction of $18,974,904.06. Following the sale, the director owned 16,500 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,050,585. The trade was a 82.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Roger Fradin sold 101,667 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $253.42, for a total value of $25,764,451.14. Following the transaction, the director owned 40,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,136,800. This represents a 71.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 489,761 shares of company stock worth $123,356,815 in the last quarter. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Vertiv

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Vertiv by 2.2% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,833,036 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,858,352,000 after purchasing an additional 826,281 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Vertiv by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,694,900 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,408,661,000 after purchasing an additional 235,577 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Vertiv by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,065,912 shares of the company's stock worth $1,141,723,000 after purchasing an additional 143,821 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Vertiv by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,974,205 shares of the company's stock worth $967,881,000 after purchasing an additional 121,618 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Vertiv in the 4th quarter valued at about $808,701,000. Institutional investors own 89.92% of the company's stock.

Vertiv Company Profile

Vertiv is a global provider of critical digital infrastructure and continuity solutions for data centers, communication networks and commercial and industrial environments. Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, the company designs, manufactures and services equipment and software that support power availability, thermal management and IT infrastructure management for a broad set of end markets, including hyperscale and enterprise data centers, colocation providers, telecom operators and industrial customers.

The company's product portfolio includes uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), power distribution units (PDUs), battery and DC power systems, precision cooling and thermal management equipment, racks and enclosures, and integrated modular infrastructure.

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