Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) Shares Gap Down – Should You Sell?

Vertiv Holdings Co. (NYSE:VRT) gapped down before the market opened on Wednesday. The stock had previously closed at $235.97, but opened at $217.17. Vertiv shares last traded at $215.0790, with a volume of 2,353,119 shares traded.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on VRT shares. BNP Paribas Exane dropped their target price on shares of Vertiv from $380.00 to $365.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Vertiv from $440.00 to $375.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Roth Capital set a $345.00 price target on shares of Vertiv in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Mizuho set a $300.00 price target on shares of Vertiv in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Vertiv from $320.00 to $245.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $337.78.

Vertiv Trading Up 1.8%

The business has a 50 day moving average of $238.71 and a 200 day moving average of $269.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $69.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.42, a PEG ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 2.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.01.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The company reported $2.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $4.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.75 billion. Vertiv had a return on equity of 53.31% and a net margin of 15.99%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 61.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.24 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Vertiv Holdings Co. will post 7.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vertiv Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 14th were given a dividend of $0.0625 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 14th. This represents a $0.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.1%. Vertiv’s dividend payout ratio is 4.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vertiv

In other news, Director Edward Monser sold 15,287 shares of Vertiv stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $253.82, for a total value of $3,880,146.34. Following the sale, the director directly owned 16,500 shares in the company, valued at $4,188,030. This trade represents a 48.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Vertiv by 4.5% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,531,530 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,535,087,000 after purchasing an additional 704,970 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Vertiv by 14.1% during the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,794,360 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,270,428,000 after purchasing an additional 468,380 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in Vertiv by 1.1% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,138,967 shares of the company’s stock worth $716,169,000 after purchasing an additional 23,444 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in Vertiv by 1.9% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,709,276 shares of the company’s stock worth $678,890,000 after purchasing an additional 51,328 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in Vertiv by 33.7% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,410,642 shares of the company’s stock worth $604,059,000 after purchasing an additional 608,176 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.92% of the company’s stock.

About Vertiv

Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE: VRT) designs, manufactures and services critical digital infrastructure used by data centers, communications networks and commercial and industrial facilities. Its offerings help customers maintain reliable power, cooling and operating conditions for technology systems.

The company’s products and solutions include uninterruptible power supplies, power distribution equipment, thermal management systems, racks, integrated modular infrastructure, and monitoring and control software.