Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) Shares Up 2.8% After Dividend Announcement

Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT)’s stock price was up 2.8% during mid-day trading on Monday following a dividend announcement from the company. The company traded as high as $125.84 and last traded at $124.24. Approximately 1,534,066 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 81% from the average daily volume of 8,142,675 shares. The stock had previously closed at $120.87.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Thursday, December 19th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be paid a $0.0375 dividend. This represents a $0.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.11%. This is an increase from Vertiv’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.03. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 3rd. Vertiv’s payout ratio is currently 6.67%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on VRT shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Vertiv from $126.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Vertiv in a research report on Monday, October 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Vertiv in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $155.00 target price on the stock. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Vertiv from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Vertiv from $115.00 to $141.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Vertiv presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $138.50.

Vertiv Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $107.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $94.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $52.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 93.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.58.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $2.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.98 billion. Vertiv had a return on equity of 55.33% and a net margin of 7.72%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.52 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Vertiv Holdings Co will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Vertiv

In other Vertiv news, insider Karsten Winther sold 44,924 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.99, for a total transaction of $3,593,470.76. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 10,542 shares in the company, valued at approximately $843,254.58. This trade represents a 80.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 5.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Vertiv

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its position in Vertiv by 15.4% in the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,553,001 shares of the company’s stock worth $221,013,000 after purchasing an additional 340,639 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. grew its holdings in shares of Vertiv by 7.2% in the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 127,210 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,656,000 after acquiring an additional 8,579 shares in the last quarter. Janney Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Vertiv in the third quarter valued at approximately $8,403,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Vertiv by 190.7% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 55,923 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,564,000 after acquiring an additional 36,684 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP lifted its holdings in Vertiv by 42.4% during the third quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 31,839 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,168,000 after acquiring an additional 9,479 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.92% of the company’s stock.

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.