Traders Purchase Large Volume of Vertiv Call Options (NYSE:VRT)

Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders acquired 70,607 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 63% compared to the average daily volume of 43,425 call options.

Vertiv Stock Performance

Vertiv stock traded down $9.18 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $81.82. 14,052,819 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,507,979. Vertiv has a 12 month low of $25.09 and a 12 month high of $109.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.09, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The business has a 50 day moving average of $93.23 and a two-hundred day moving average of $79.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 82.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.58.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.62 billion. Vertiv had a return on equity of 44.95% and a net margin of 5.79%. The company’s revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.24 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Vertiv will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Vertiv Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 17th were issued a $0.025 dividend. This represents a $0.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.12%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 17th. Vertiv’s dividend payout ratio is 9.62%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Vertiv from $103.00 to $116.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Vertiv from $102.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Vertiv from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Vertiv from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Vertiv from $56.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Vertiv currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $92.11.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Vertiv news, insider Yibin Edward Cui sold 668 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Saturday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.39, for a total value of $63,052.52. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,452 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,836,074.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Vertiv news, Director Doherty Philip O’ sold 2,511,295 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.64, for a total value of $235,157,663.80. Following the transaction, the director now owns 9,324,181 shares in the company, valued at $873,116,308.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Yibin Edward Cui sold 668 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Saturday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.39, for a total transaction of $63,052.52. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 19,452 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,836,074.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 4,162,739 shares of company stock valued at $400,713,362 over the last three months. Insiders own 5.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of VRT. Norges Bank bought a new position in Vertiv in the fourth quarter valued at about $185,339,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Vertiv by 303.1% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,777,057 shares of the company’s stock valued at $390,143,000 after acquiring an additional 3,591,903 shares during the period. Coatue Management LLC lifted its holdings in Vertiv by 19.5% in the fourth quarter. Coatue Management LLC now owns 13,811,848 shares of the company’s stock valued at $663,383,000 after acquiring an additional 2,249,353 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Vertiv by 5.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,622,257 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,745,930,000 after buying an additional 1,766,784 shares during the period. Finally, Castle Hook Partners LP bought a new position in shares of Vertiv in the first quarter worth about $135,987,000. 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.