Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) Trading 1.8% Higher Following Analyst Upgrade

Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT) shares shot up 1.8% on Wednesday after The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on the stock from $106.00 to $122.00. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Vertiv traded as high as $110.61 and last traded at $110.47. 1,375,014 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 8,713,347 shares. The stock had previously closed at $108.47.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on VRT. Royal Bank of Canada initiated coverage on shares of Vertiv in a report on Friday, March 7th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $121.00 price target on the stock. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Vertiv from $100.00 to $90.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 4th. KGI Securities initiated coverage on shares of Vertiv in a report on Thursday, April 24th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Roth Capital raised shares of Vertiv to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Vertiv from $153.00 to $98.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $124.69.

Insider Activity

In other Vertiv news, EVP Stephen Liang sold 43,683 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.83, for a total transaction of $5,059,801.89. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 9,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,106,292.33. This represents a 82.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Karsten Winther sold 5,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.33, for a total transaction of $518,815.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 18,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,777,837.51. The trade was a 22.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.63% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vertiv

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VRT. GW&K Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Vertiv in the first quarter worth about $26,000. SouthState Corp purchased a new stake in Vertiv in the first quarter worth about $27,000. North Star Investment Management Corp. lifted its holdings in Vertiv by 4,120.0% in the first quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 422 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 412 shares during the period. Sachetta LLC lifted its holdings in Vertiv by 242.0% in the first quarter. Sachetta LLC now owns 448 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 317 shares during the period. Finally, Tradewinds Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Vertiv by 61.3% in the fourth quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 292 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.92% of the company’s stock.

Vertiv Stock Up 1.9%

The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $92.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $104.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.12 billion, a PE ratio of 86.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.02. Vertiv had a net margin of 6.19% and a return on equity of 61.41%. The business had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.43 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Vertiv Holdings Co will post 3.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.