Wall Street Zen Upgrades Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) to "Strong-Buy"

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) from "buy" to strong-buy, and several major firms (TD Cowen, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, Evercore) raised price targets into the roughly $347–$353 range while the consensus remains a "Moderate Buy" with an average target of $278.38.
• Vertiv beat Q1 estimates, reporting $1.17 EPS vs. $1.00 expected and $2.65B revenue (up 30.1% year-over-year), and issued Q2 guidance of $1.370–$1.430 and FY‑2026 guidance of $6.300–$6.400 EPS (sell-side expects ~6.42).
• Despite analyst optimism, insiders have been net sellers—489,761 shares (~$123.4M) sold in the last three months—while institutional ownership is very high (89.92%) with large stakes held or increased by Vanguard, State Street, Geode, Invesco and a new Norges Bank position.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT - Get Free Report) was upgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on VRT. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Vertiv from $269.00 to $347.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Vertiv from $285.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "hold" rating and issued a $260.00 price objective (down from $280.00) on shares of Vertiv in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Vertiv from $340.00 to $353.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Evercore reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $350.00 price target on shares of Vertiv in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Twenty-one equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Vertiv currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $278.38.

Vertiv Stock Down 0.1%

VRT stock opened at $328.11 on Friday. 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 company's 50 day moving average is $274.42 and its 200 day moving average is $213.68. The stock has a market cap of $126.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 82.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 2.10. Vertiv has a 1-year low of $91.81 and a 1-year high of $331.97.

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

Insider Transactions at Vertiv

In other news, Director Edward L. Monser sold 77,294 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.49, for a total value of $18,974,904.06. Following the transaction, the director owned 16,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,050,585. This trade represents a 82.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman David M. Cote sold 40,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.29, for a total transaction of $10,211,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman owned 22,258 shares in the company, valued at $5,682,244.82. This represents a 64.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 489,761 shares of company stock valued at $123,356,815. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Vertiv by 2.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,833,036 shares of the company's stock worth $5,858,352,000 after acquiring an additional 826,281 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Vertiv by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,694,900 shares of the company's stock worth $1,408,661,000 after acquiring an additional 235,577 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 143,821 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 121,618 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Vertiv in the fourth quarter worth $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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