Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) Trading Down 4.5% Following Insider Selling

Shares of Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT) dropped 4.5% during trading on Wednesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $124.52 and last traded at $125.81. Approximately 2,940,270 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 64% from the average daily volume of 8,187,053 shares. The stock had previously closed at $131.74.

Specifically, EVP Stephen Liang sold 86,619 shares of Vertiv stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,551 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,562,549.57. This trade represents a 81.59 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Jan Van Dokkum sold 38,647 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.39, for a total value of $5,271,064.33. Following the sale, the director now owns 25,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,409,750. This trade represents a 60.72 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In related news, Director Jakki L. Haussler sold 15,347 shares of Vertiv stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were 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. This trade represents a 81.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VRT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Vertiv from $121.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Vertiv in a report on Monday, October 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price objective on the stock. Mizuho increased their target price on Vertiv from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Vertiv from $134.00 to $141.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Vertiv from $126.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $138.50.

Vertiv Stock Performance

The firm has a fifty day moving average of $114.21 and a 200-day moving average of $96.11. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $47.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 84.63, a PEG ratio of 1.36 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, topping the consensus estimate 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 business’s revenue was up 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.52 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Vertiv Holdings Co will post 2.69 EPS for the current year.

Vertiv Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 19th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be issued a $0.0375 dividend. This represents a $0.15 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.12%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. This is an increase from Vertiv’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.03. Vertiv’s dividend payout ratio is 6.67%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of VRT. State Street Corp increased its position in Vertiv by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,635,081 shares of the company’s stock worth $759,614,000 after purchasing an additional 308,704 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Vertiv by 7.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,951,784 shares of the company’s stock worth $592,433,000 after buying an additional 408,054 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Vertiv by 10,825.0% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,600,415 shares of the company’s stock worth $457,695,000 after buying an additional 4,558,306 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Vertiv by 271.0% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,915,446 shares of the company’s stock valued at $389,548,000 after buying an additional 2,860,181 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA purchased a new position in shares of Vertiv during the second quarter valued at approximately $331,091,000. 89.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Vertiv

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.