Bowen Hanes & Co. Inc. Cuts Stake in Vertiv Holdings Co. $VRT

Bowen Hanes & Co. Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Vertiv Holdings Co. (NYSE:VRT) by 94.8% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 12,000 shares of the company’s stock after selling 220,045 shares during the period. Bowen Hanes & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Vertiv were worth $866,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Colonial Trust Co SC increased its stake in Vertiv by 211.9% during the 4th quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 315 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 214 shares during the period. Ameriflex Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Vertiv during the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,000. GW&K Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Vertiv during the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,000. SouthState Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Vertiv in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, BNP Paribas purchased a new stake in shares of Vertiv in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $45,000. 89.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Vertiv Stock Up 1.9%

VRT stock opened at $135.60 on Tuesday. Vertiv Holdings Co. has a one year low of $53.60 and a one year high of $155.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.78 billion, a PE ratio of 64.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.74. The company has a fifty day moving average of $128.59 and a 200-day moving average of $105.22.

Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $2.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.36 billion. Vertiv had a net margin of 8.93% and a return on equity of 51.64%. The business’s revenue was up 35.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.67 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Vertiv Holdings Co. will post 3.59 EPS for the current year.

Vertiv Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th were issued a dividend of $0.0375 per share. This is an increase from Vertiv’s previous dividend of $0.01. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This represents a yield of 14.0%. Vertiv’s payout ratio is 7.18%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Stephen Liang sold 43,683 shares of Vertiv stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.83, for a total transaction of $5,059,801.89. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 9,551 shares in the company, valued at $1,106,292.33. The trade was a 82.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Karsten Winther sold 41,654 shares of Vertiv stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.21, for a total transaction of $5,590,383.34. Following the sale, the insider owned 18,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,529,590.08. This trade represents a 68.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 5.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on VRT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Vertiv from $127.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Evercore ISI reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Vertiv in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Melius Research raised shares of Vertiv from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $134.00 to $165.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Barclays set a $128.00 price objective on shares of Vertiv and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on shares of Vertiv from $143.00 to $162.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $144.06.

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.