Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) Trading 1.6% Higher on Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Vertiv's stock price rose by 1.6% following an upgrade from Evercore ISI, which increased its price target from $165.00 to $180.00 and maintained an outperform rating.
• The company's earnings report showed EPS of $0.95, surpassing the consensus estimate and revealing a revenue increase of 35.1% compared to the same quarter last year.
• Institutional investors have increased their holdings significantly, with over $1 billion in new positions from Norges Bank and Winslow Capital Management in the second quarter.

Vertiv Holdings Co. (NYSE:VRT - Get Free Report)'s stock price shot up 1.6% during trading on Monday after Evercore ISI raised their price target on the stock from $165.00 to $180.00. Evercore ISI currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Vertiv traded as high as $169.83 and last traded at $162.77. 7,044,155 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 21% from the average session volume of 8,879,994 shares. The stock had previously closed at $160.20.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on VRT. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Vertiv from $128.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Glj Research initiated coverage on Vertiv in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. They issued a "sell" rating and a $112.00 price target for the company. Rothschild Redb upgraded Vertiv to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. Mizuho raised their price objective on Vertiv from $125.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on Vertiv from $135.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $146.45.

Insider Activity at Vertiv

In other Vertiv news, insider Karsten Winther sold 41,654 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.21, for a total value of $5,590,383.34. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 18,848 shares in the company, valued at $2,529,590.08. This represents a 68.85% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 sale, the insider directly owned 12,803 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,630,334.02. This represents a 63.44% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 180,952 shares of company stock valued at $23,360,571. Company insiders own 5.01% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Vertiv during the second quarter valued at $538,132,000. Winslow Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Vertiv in the second quarter worth about $459,284,000. Amundi grew its holdings in Vertiv by 96.8% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 6,951,773 shares of the company's stock worth $469,490,000 after acquiring an additional 3,420,144 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. increased its position in Vertiv by 985.3% during the 1st quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,301,700 shares of the company's stock valued at $166,183,000 after purchasing an additional 2,089,612 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of Vertiv by 100.1% in the 2nd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,246,769 shares of the company's stock valued at $415,132,000 after purchasing an additional 1,624,456 shares in the last quarter. 89.92% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Vertiv Stock Performance

The firm's fifty day moving average price is $137.27 and its 200 day moving average price is $114.13. The firm has a market cap of $62.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 77.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.74.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $2.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. Vertiv had a net margin of 8.93% and a return on equity of 51.64%. Vertiv's revenue was up 35.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.67 earnings per share. Vertiv has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 0.940-1.000 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Vertiv Holdings Co. will post 3.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vertiv Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 25th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th were paid a dividend of $0.0375 per share. This represents a $0.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 15th. Vertiv's dividend payout ratio is 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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