Vertiv Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:VRT)

Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT) saw some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders acquired 54,366 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 48% compared to the average volume of 36,858 call options.

Vertiv Trading Up 3.5 %

Shares of VRT opened at $100.77 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 96.89, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a 50-day moving average of $79.80 and a 200 day moving average of $85.82. Vertiv has a 1-year low of $34.60 and a 1-year high of $109.27.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The company reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.94 billion. Vertiv had a return on equity of 50.79% and a net margin of 6.93%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.46 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Vertiv will post 2.58 EPS for the current year.

Vertiv Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be given a $0.025 dividend. This represents a $0.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 17th. Vertiv’s payout ratio is 9.62%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on VRT shares. Mizuho upgraded shares of Vertiv from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $95.00 to $92.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $105.00 target price on shares of Vertiv in a report on Thursday, August 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Vertiv from $116.00 to $104.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on Vertiv from $89.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $102.13.

Insider Activity at Vertiv

In related news, insider Karsten Winther sold 44,924 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.99, for a total transaction of $3,593,470.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 10,542 shares in the company, valued at approximately $843,254.58. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 5.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of VRT. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in Vertiv by 296.0% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 13,205 shares of the company’s stock valued at $634,000 after buying an additional 9,870 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in shares of Vertiv by 58.8% in the 4th quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 547,833 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,312,000 after purchasing an additional 202,766 shares during the last quarter. Williamson Legacy Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Vertiv in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,645,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its stake in Vertiv by 24.7% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 857 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank grew its position in Vertiv by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,085,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,628,000 after purchasing an additional 14,100 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.