Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) Coverage Initiated at Morgan Stanley

Equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) in a research report issued on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm set an “overweight” rating and a $150.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price points to a potential upside of 14.99% from the company’s current price.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on VRT. Mizuho increased their price target on Vertiv from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Vertiv in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $155.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target 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. Barclays began coverage on shares of Vertiv in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $142.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Vertiv from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $140.92.

Vertiv Stock Performance

NYSE VRT opened at $130.45 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $123.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $101.34. Vertiv has a fifty-two week low of $46.62 and a fifty-two week high of $145.67. The company has a market cap of $48.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 86.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.38.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.07. Vertiv had a net margin of 7.72% and a return on equity of 55.33%. The business had revenue of $2.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.98 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.52 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Vertiv will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Stephen Liang sold 86,619 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.07, for a total value of $11,353,152.33. Following the sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Jakki L. Haussler sold 15,347 shares of Vertiv stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.38, for a total transaction of $2,108,370.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,425 shares in the company, valued at approximately $470,526.50. The trade was 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 worth $23,105,682. 5.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vertiv

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

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.