Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) Stock Price Down 3.4% Following Analyst Downgrade

Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT)’s share price fell 3.4% during trading on Thursday after The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on the stock from $135.00 to $85.00. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Vertiv traded as low as $66.95 and last traded at $70.36. 3,772,126 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 58% from the average session volume of 8,981,050 shares. The stock had previously closed at $72.82.

VRT has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Morgan Stanley started coverage on Vertiv in a report on Monday, January 6th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $150.00 price objective on the stock. Melius Research reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $125.00 price target on shares of Vertiv in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of Vertiv from $150.00 to $145.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Royal Bank of Canada assumed coverage on shares of Vertiv in a report on Friday, March 7th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $121.00 target price for the company. Finally, Melius lowered Vertiv from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $125.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Vertiv has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $125.50.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vertiv

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of VRT. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA purchased a new position in shares of Vertiv during the 4th quarter worth $597,379,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Vertiv during the fourth quarter worth about $391,777,000. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in Vertiv by 68.6% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 7,754,347 shares of the company’s stock worth $880,971,000 after buying an additional 3,153,932 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in Vertiv by 136.9% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,336,862 shares of the company’s stock valued at $379,101,000 after buying an additional 1,928,275 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Vertiv by 3.5% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.92% of the company’s stock.

Vertiv Stock Performance

The company’s fifty day moving average price is $90.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $109.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.21 billion, a PE ratio of 53.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.71.

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

Vertiv Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th were given a dividend of $0.0375 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $0.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.22%. Vertiv’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.72%.

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.