Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) Trading Down 6% - Time to Sell?

Key Points

• Vertiv Holdings Co. saw a significant drop in stock price by 6%, trading at $135.15, down from a previous close of $143.72, with trading volume down 68% compared to its daily average.
• A number of analysts have issued positive ratings for Vertiv, with price targets ranging from $155 to $173, contributing to a current average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $144.06.
• Vertiv recently increased its dividend to $0.0375, marking a substantial boost from its previous dividend of $0.01, representing a yield of 14.0%.

Vertiv Holdings Co. (NYSE:VRT - Get Free Report) dropped 6% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $135.91 and last traded at $135.15. Approximately 2,959,417 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 68% from the average daily volume of 9,292,118 shares. The stock had previously closed at $143.72.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wolfe Research reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $155.00 price target on shares of Vertiv in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Vertiv from $135.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Vertiv in a research note on Sunday. Melius Research upgraded shares of Vertiv from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $134.00 to $165.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Roth Capital raised their price objective on shares of Vertiv from $100.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Vertiv currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $144.06.

Vertiv Trading Down 5.7%

The business has a 50-day moving average of $126.88 and a 200-day moving average of $104.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 64.87, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.77. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $2.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.36 billion. Vertiv had a return on equity of 51.64% and a net margin of 8.93%. The company's revenue was up 35.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.67 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Vertiv Holdings Co. will post 3.59 EPS for the current year.

Vertiv Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th were paid a $0.0375 dividend. This is a boost from Vertiv's previous dividend of $0.01. This represents a yield of 14.0%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Vertiv's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.18%.

Insider Activity at Vertiv

In other news, EVP Stephen Liang sold 43,683 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.83, for a total transaction of $5,059,801.89. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 9,551 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,106,292.33. This represents a 82.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 2.63% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Vertiv in the second quarter worth $538,132,000. Amundi grew its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 3,420,144 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Vertiv by 985.3% during the 1st quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,301,700 shares of the company's stock worth $166,183,000 after purchasing an additional 2,089,612 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased 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. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Vertiv by 3.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,715,159 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,723,034,000 after purchasing an additional 1,359,070 shares during the period. 89.92% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Vertiv Company Profile

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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