Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) Trading Up 11.7% Following Better-Than-Expected Earnings

Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT) traded up 11.7% on Wednesday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The company traded as high as $94.39 and last traded at $88.45. 12,267,756 shares were traded during mid-day 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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.62 billion. Vertiv had a return on equity of 42.43% and a net margin of 5.79%. Vertiv’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.24 earnings per share.

Vertiv Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were issued a dividend of $0.025 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 18th. This represents a $0.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.11%. Vertiv’s payout ratio is presently 9.62%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Vertiv from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Bank of America raised their target price on Vertiv from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Citigroup raised their target price on Vertiv from $102.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Mizuho raised their target price on Vertiv from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Vertiv from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $76.78.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Stephen Liang sold 306,196 shares of Vertiv stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 51,841 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,641,311.84. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CAO Scott Cripps sold 56,594 shares of Vertiv stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.76, for a total transaction of $4,004,591.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Stephen Liang sold 306,196 shares of Vertiv stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 51,841 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,641,311.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 5.62% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bogart Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Vertiv during the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Atticus Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Vertiv in the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. boosted its stake in 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 in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new stake in Vertiv in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its stake in Vertiv by 33.2% in the first quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 550 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.92% of the company’s stock.

Vertiv Stock Up 2.6 %

The firm has a 50 day moving average of $75.90 and a two-hundred day moving average of $57.10. The firm has a market capitalization 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 quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45.

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.