Chesley Taft & Associates LLC Decreases Stake in Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT)

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC cut its holdings in shares of Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT) by 4.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 10,445 shares of the company’s stock after selling 430 shares during the quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC’s holdings in Vertiv were worth $1,187,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Accurate Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Vertiv by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,234 shares of the company’s stock worth $254,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Vertiv by 25.1% during the 3rd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 458 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP increased its holdings in shares of Vertiv by 18.6% in the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 638 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. NBC Securities Inc. raised its position in shares of Vertiv by 0.9% in the third quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 13,125 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,305,000 after buying an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bouvel Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in Vertiv by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Bouvel Investment Partners LLC now owns 11,097 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,261,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.92% of the company’s stock.

Vertiv Price Performance

VRT opened at $143.16 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 1.02. Vertiv Holdings Co has a 1 year low of $52.40 and a 1 year high of $145.67. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $126.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $103.98. The firm has a market cap of $53.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 95.44, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.63.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.98 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.52 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Vertiv Holdings Co will post 2.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Vertiv Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 19th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were issued a $0.0375 dividend. This represents a $0.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.10%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 3rd. This is a positive change from Vertiv’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.03. Vertiv’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.67%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. TD Cowen upped their target price on Vertiv from $115.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Vertiv in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $142.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Vertiv in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $155.00 target price for the company. Mizuho raised their price target on Vertiv from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Vertiv from $121.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $141.75.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vertiv

In other news, EVP Stephen Liang sold 86,619 shares of Vertiv stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.07, for a total value of $11,353,152.33. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,551 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,562,549.57. This trade represents a 81.59 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Anand Sanghi sold 30,914 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.46, for a total value of $4,373,094.44. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,448 shares in the company, valued at $2,751,114.08. This trade represents a 61.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 171,527 shares of company stock worth $23,105,682. 5.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.