Evercore ISI Cuts Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) Price Target to $145.00

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) had its price objective reduced by Evercore ISI from $150.00 to $145.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the stock.

VRT has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Vertiv from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target 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. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Vertiv in a research note on Monday, October 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group started coverage on Vertiv in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $155.00 target price for the company. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Vertiv from $141.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Vertiv has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $141.75.

Vertiv Stock Performance

NYSE:VRT opened at $135.94 on Friday. Vertiv has a twelve month low of $49.67 and a twelve month high of $145.67. The stock has a market cap of $51.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 90.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $126.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $103.61.

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

Vertiv Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 19th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were issued a $0.0375 dividend. This represents a $0.15 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.11%. This is a positive change from Vertiv’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.03. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 3rd. Vertiv’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Stephen Liang sold 86,619 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,562,549.57. This represents a 81.59 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Jakki L. Haussler sold 15,347 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 $470,526.50. The trade was a 81.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 171,527 shares of company stock valued at $23,105,682. 5.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Anchor Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Vertiv in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Krane Funds Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Vertiv during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Global Trust Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Vertiv during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC boosted its position in shares of Vertiv by 200.0% during the 3rd quarter. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC now owns 300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in shares of Vertiv during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. 89.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.