Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) Trading Down 4.6% Following Analyst Downgrade

Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT)’s share price dropped 4.6% during mid-day trading on Thursday after Barclays lowered their price target on the stock from $111.00 to $100.00. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Vertiv traded as low as $76.02 and last traded at $77.83. Approximately 5,943,591 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 43% from the average daily volume of 10,403,932 shares. The stock had previously closed at $81.62.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on VRT. Fox Advisors began coverage on Vertiv in a report on Monday, January 6th. They set an “equal weight” rating for the company. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on Vertiv from $150.00 to $145.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Vertiv from $141.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Melius Research reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $125.00 target price on shares of Vertiv in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Melius downgraded Vertiv from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $125.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $135.33.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vertiv

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Vertiv by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,356,089 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,130,415,000 after acquiring an additional 1,244,780 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of Vertiv by 68.6% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 7,754,347 shares of the company’s stock valued at $880,971,000 after purchasing an additional 3,153,932 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Vertiv by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,635,081 shares of the company’s stock worth $759,614,000 after purchasing an additional 308,704 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Vertiv by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,050,965 shares of the company’s stock worth $688,260,000 after purchasing an additional 99,181 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA bought a new position in Vertiv during the 4th quarter valued at about $597,379,000. Institutional investors own 89.92% of the company’s stock.

Vertiv Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.71. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $103.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $111.23.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.99 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.15. Vertiv had a return on equity of 61.41% and a net margin of 6.19%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.56 EPS. Analysts expect that Vertiv Holdings Co will post 3.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vertiv Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th were issued a $0.0375 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $0.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.20%. Vertiv’s dividend payout ratio is 11.72%.

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.