Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) Shares Up 4.9% After Better-Than-Expected Earnings

Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT) shot up 4.9% during trading on Thursday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The company traded as high as $90.46 and last traded at $88.72. 6,834,540 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 13% from the average session volume of 7,879,651 shares. The stock had previously closed at $84.57.

The company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.62 billion. Vertiv had a net margin of 6.71% and a return on equity of 39.46%. Vertiv’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.24 earnings per share.

Vertiv Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were paid a dividend of $0.025 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 18th. This represents a $0.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.11%. Vertiv’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.47%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRT has been the topic of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Vertiv from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Vertiv from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Vertiv from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Citigroup upped their price objective on Vertiv from $69.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on Vertiv from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $75.89.

Insider Activity at Vertiv

In other news, EVP Stephen Liang sold 306,196 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.24, for a total transaction of $21,507,207.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 51,841 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,641,311.84. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Stephen Liang sold 306,196 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.24, for a total transaction of $21,507,207.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 51,841 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,641,311.84. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Scott Cripps sold 56,594 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.76, for a total value of $4,004,591.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 5.62% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vertiv

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Atticus Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Vertiv in the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. lifted its position in shares of Vertiv by 66.7% in the first quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new position in shares of Vertiv during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Vertiv by 79.0% during the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 571 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 252 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Vertiv by 161.7% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 662 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 409 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.92% of the company’s stock.

Vertiv Stock Up 7.1 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.74. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $75.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $56.87. The firm has a market cap of $34.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 75.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.59.

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.