Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) Stock Price Down 5.7% – Should You Sell?

Vertiv Holdings Co. (NYSE:VRT)’s share price dropped 5.7% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $160.67 and last traded at $163.4120. Approximately 11,341,862 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 30% from the average daily volume of 8,741,947 shares. The stock had previously closed at $173.37.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on VRT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Vertiv from $150.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Rothschild & Co Redburn started coverage on Vertiv in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $135.00 target price on the stock. Cfra Research raised Vertiv to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Roth Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $195.00 price target (up from $162.00) on shares of Vertiv in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on Vertiv from $173.00 to $201.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $177.81.

Vertiv Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $65.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 64.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $164.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $135.94.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The company reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.25. Vertiv had a return on equity of 50.82% and a net margin of 10.67%.The company had revenue of $2.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.59 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.76 earnings per share. Vertiv’s revenue for the quarter was up 29.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Vertiv has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 1.230-1.290 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 4.070-4.130 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Vertiv Holdings Co. will post 3.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vertiv Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 25th will be issued a $0.0625 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 25th. This is a positive change from Vertiv’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. This represents a $0.25 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. Vertiv’s dividend payout ratio is 5.66%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Steven Reinemund sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.22, for a total value of $12,822,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 133,333 shares in the company, valued at $17,095,957.26. This represents a 42.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Jakki L. Haussler sold 15,680 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.92, for a total value of $1,943,065.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 4,631 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $573,873.52. This trade represents a 77.20% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 139,298 shares of company stock worth $17,770,188 over the last 90 days. 2.63% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vertiv

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of VRT. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Vertiv by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,833,036 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,858,352,000 after purchasing an additional 826,281 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in Vertiv by 5.7% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,269,839 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,061,930,000 after buying an additional 442,937 shares during the period. Amundi increased its stake in Vertiv by 96.8% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 6,951,773 shares of the company’s stock valued at $469,490,000 after buying an additional 3,420,144 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Vertiv by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,686,778 shares of the company’s stock worth $856,082,000 after buying an additional 219,970 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Vertiv by 20.9% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,931,488 shares of the company’s stock valued at $761,662,000 after buying an additional 1,024,634 shares during the period. 89.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.