Barclays Cuts Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) Price Target to $131.00

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) had its target price lowered by Barclays from $142.00 to $131.00 in a research report released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the stock.

VRT has been the topic of several other research reports. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Vertiv from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on Vertiv in a research note on Monday, January 6th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $150.00 price target on the stock. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Vertiv from $121.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Vertiv from $124.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, 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 price target for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $138.57.

Vertiv Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of VRT opened at $108.18 on Thursday. Vertiv has a 1 year low of $55.00 and a 1 year high of $155.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $122.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $108.58. The firm has a market cap of $40.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 72.12, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.64.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.15. Vertiv had a net margin of 7.72% and a return on equity of 55.33%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.56 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Vertiv will post 2.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vertiv Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 19th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were issued a $0.0375 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 3rd. This is a positive change from Vertiv’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.03. This represents a $0.15 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.14%. Vertiv’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.81%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vertiv

In related news, 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 transaction of $11,353,152.33. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,551 shares in the company, valued at $2,562,549.57. The trade was a 81.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Jakki L. Haussler sold 15,347 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.38, for a total value of $2,108,370.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 3,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $470,526.50. This trade represents a 81.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 171,527 shares of company stock valued at $23,105,682. 5.01% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vertiv

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of VRT. Wahed Invest LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Vertiv by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 8,798 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,000,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec purchased a new position in Vertiv during the fourth quarter valued at $13,949,000. Gallo Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of Vertiv in the fourth quarter worth $1,826,000. Utah Retirement Systems increased its holdings in shares of Vertiv by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Utah Retirement Systems now owns 39,300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,465,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Owen LaRue LLC raised its position in shares of Vertiv by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Owen LaRue LLC now owns 16,179 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,838,000 after purchasing an additional 379 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.92% of the company’s stock.

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.