Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) Trading 1.5% Higher on Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Vertiv Holdings Co. (NYSE:VRT) saw a stock increase of 1.5% after an upgrade from Weiss Ratings, raising its rating from hold to buy.
• Multiple analysts have raised their target prices for Vertiv, with estimates ranging from $180.00 to $201.00, indicating strong confidence in the company's future performance.
• Insider trading activity included significant sales by executives, with Paul Ryan selling over 22,000 shares, reflecting a 63.44% decrease in his ownership of the stock.

Vertiv Holdings Co. (NYSE:VRT - Get Free Report) traded up 1.5% on Friday after Weiss Ratings upgraded the stock from a hold (c+) rating to a buy (b-) rating. The stock traded as high as $188.89 and last traded at $185.87. 6,897,741 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 22% from the average session volume of 8,867,482 shares. The stock had previously closed at $183.20.

VRT has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Vertiv from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Vertiv from $165.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Redburn Atlantic raised Vertiv to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on Vertiv from $191.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Vertiv from $173.00 to $201.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $177.81.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Paul Ryan sold 22,218 shares of Vertiv stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.34, for a total transaction of $2,829,240.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 12,803 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,630,334.02. The trade was a 63.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Steven Reinemund sold 100,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.22, for a total transaction of $12,822,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 133,333 shares of the company's stock, valued at $17,095,957.26. This trade represents a 42.86% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 180,952 shares of company stock worth $23,360,571 over the last three months. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vertiv

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

Vertiv Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $70.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 70.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.84. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $146.24 and a 200-day moving average of $122.87.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The company reported $1.24 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.25. Vertiv had a net margin of 10.67% and a return on equity of 54.37%. The company had revenue of $2.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.59 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.76 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 29.0% on a year-over-year basis. Vertiv has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 1.230-1.290 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 4.070-4.130 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Vertiv Holdings Co. will post 3.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Vertiv Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th were issued a $0.0375 dividend. This represents a $0.15 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. Vertiv's dividend payout ratio is presently 7.18%.

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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