Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) Sets New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT)’s share price reached a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $148.62 and last traded at $151.61, with a volume of 124542 shares. The stock had previously closed at $143.13.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on VRT. Barclays began coverage on shares of Vertiv in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $142.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group initiated coverage on Vertiv in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $155.00 price target for the company. Fox Advisors began coverage on shares of Vertiv in a report on Monday, January 6th. They issued an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Vertiv from $150.00 to $145.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Vertiv from $124.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Vertiv has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $141.75.

Vertiv Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $57.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 102.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $127.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $104.65.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.07. Vertiv had a return on equity of 55.33% and a net margin of 7.72%. The firm had revenue of $2.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.98 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.52 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Vertiv Holdings Co will post 2.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Vertiv Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 19th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.0375 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 3rd. This is a positive change from Vertiv’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.03. This represents a $0.15 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.10%. Vertiv’s payout ratio is 6.67%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Stephen Liang sold 86,619 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.07, for a total value of $11,353,152.33. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,551 shares in the company, valued at $2,562,549.57. This represents a 81.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Jakki L. Haussler sold 15,347 shares of Vertiv stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.38, for a total value of $2,108,370.86. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,425 shares in the company, valued at $470,526.50. The trade was a 81.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 171,527 shares of company stock worth $23,105,682. Insiders own 5.01% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vertiv

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Vertiv during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,022,000. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC raised its stake in Vertiv by 22.0% during the fourth quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 4,437 shares of the company’s stock worth $504,000 after buying an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. Total Clarity Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Vertiv by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Total Clarity Wealth Management Inc. now owns 7,042 shares of the company’s stock valued at $800,000 after buying an additional 158 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC lifted its holdings in Vertiv by 14.5% in the fourth quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 4,706 shares of the company’s stock valued at $535,000 after buying an additional 597 shares during the period. Finally, Alta Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Vertiv during the fourth quarter valued at $490,000. 89.92% of the stock is currently owned by 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.