Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) Trading 11.7% Higher After Strong Earnings

Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT) shot up 11.7% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The company traded as high as $94.39 and last traded at $88.45. 12,267,756 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 60% from the average session volume of 7,676,429 shares. The stock had previously closed at $79.17.

The company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.06. Vertiv had a return on equity of 42.43% and a net margin of 5.79%. The firm had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.24 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis.

Vertiv Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were given 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 is currently 9.62%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Vertiv from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Bank of America lifted their target price on Vertiv from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Vertiv from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Mizuho boosted their price target on Vertiv from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted 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 analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Vertiv has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $76.78.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Trading of Vertiv

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Nordea Investment Management AB acquired a new position in Vertiv in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,040,000. WT Asset Management Ltd acquired a new position in Vertiv in the 4th quarter worth approximately $24,486,000. CenterBook Partners LP boosted its stake in Vertiv by 82.0% in the 3rd quarter. CenterBook Partners LP now owns 174,938 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,508,000 after purchasing an additional 78,793 shares during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Vertiv by 791.6% during the 3rd quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 92,628 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,445,000 after buying an additional 82,239 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Vertiv by 244.7% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 41,984 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,016,000 after buying an additional 29,804 shares during the period. 89.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Vertiv Stock Up 2.6 %

The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $75.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $57.10. The company has a market cap of $35.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 86.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.74.

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.