Barclays Initiates Coverage on Vertiv (NYSE:VRT)

Equities researchers at Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage set an “equal weight” rating and a $142.00 price target on the stock. Barclays‘s price objective points to a potential upside of 12.94% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Vertiv in a research report on Monday, October 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $125.00 target price for the company. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Vertiv from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Vertiv from $124.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Vertiv in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $155.00 price target for the company. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Vertiv from $126.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Vertiv presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $140.09.

Vertiv Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of VRT stock opened at $125.73 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.19 billion, a PE ratio of 83.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.61. 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 has a 1 year low of $44.31 and a 1 year high of $145.67. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $120.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $98.21.

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

Insider Activity

In other Vertiv news, Director Jan Van Dokkum sold 38,647 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.39, for a total value of $5,271,064.33. Following the transaction, the director now owns 25,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,409,750. This represents a 60.72 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Stephen Liang sold 86,619 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 19,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,562,549.57. The trade was a 81.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 171,527 shares of company stock worth $23,105,682 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 5.01% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vertiv

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of VRT. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC grew its stake in Vertiv by 31.6% in the third quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 843,058 shares of the company’s stock valued at $83,876,000 after purchasing an additional 202,576 shares in the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Vertiv by 18.6% in the 3rd quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 6,502 shares of the company’s stock valued at $660,000 after buying an additional 1,021 shares in the last quarter. Blankinship & Foster LLC bought a new stake in shares of Vertiv in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $8,798,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in Vertiv in the third quarter worth approximately $584,000. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Vertiv during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,230,000. 89.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.