Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Sells 1,206,750 Shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA trimmed its stake in shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 63.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 685,569 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,206,750 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned approximately 0.28% of Veralto worth $76,688,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in Veralto in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Veralto during the second quarter worth approximately $26,000. Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new position in Veralto in the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Veralto by 692.3% in the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 309 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LRI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Veralto during the 1st quarter worth $30,000. 91.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Veralto

In related news, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 753 shares of Veralto stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.10, for a total transaction of $83,658.30. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 11,918 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,324,089.80. The trade was a 5.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 13,191 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.98, for a total transaction of $1,477,128.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 138,546 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,514,381.08. This trade represents a 8.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 28,639 shares of company stock worth $3,175,803. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on VLTO shares. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Veralto from $117.00 to $119.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Veralto from $100.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Veralto in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $118.00 price target on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Veralto from $117.00 to $119.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Veralto from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $108.27.

Veralto Price Performance

Shares of VLTO opened at $106.41 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $108.11 and a 200-day moving average of $104.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 2.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.32 billion and a P/E ratio of 32.84. Veralto Co. has a twelve month low of $72.23 and a twelve month high of $115.00.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.04. Veralto had a return on equity of 52.85% and a net margin of 15.69%. The firm had revenue of $1.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.75 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Veralto Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Veralto Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 27th were paid a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 27th. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.34%. Veralto’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.11%.

About Veralto

Veralto Corporation provides water analytics, water treatment, marking and coding, and packaging and color services worldwide. It operates through two segments, Water Quality (WQ) and Product Quality & Innovation (PQI). The WQ segment offers precision instrumentation and water treatment technologies to measure, analyze, and treat water in residential, commercial, municipal, industrial, research, and natural resource applications through the Hach, Trojan Technologies, and ChemTreat brands.