Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. Buys New Stake in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 21,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,139,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Veralto during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Veralto by 692.3% during the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 309 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares during the period. Albion Financial Group UT increased its position in shares of Veralto by 2,100.0% during the 4th quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 352 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 336 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Veralto during the 4th quarter valued at $42,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in shares of Veralto by 140.1% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 437 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 255 shares during the period. 91.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Veralto

In other Veralto news, SVP Melissa Aquino sold 463 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.60, for a total transaction of $46,114.80. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,761 shares in the company, valued at $2,067,795.60. This trade represents a 2.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Veralto Stock Performance

Shares of Veralto stock opened at $97.72 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $24.17 billion, a PE ratio of 29.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.25 and a beta of 1.06. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $101.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $106.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27. Veralto Co. has a 12 month low of $83.34 and a 12 month high of $115.00.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.05. Veralto had a return on equity of 49.29% and a net margin of 16.04%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Veralto Co. will post 3.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Veralto Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a dividend of $0.11 per share. This is a boost from Veralto’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. Veralto’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.17%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Veralto from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Veralto from $116.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Veralto in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $125.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on Veralto from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Veralto currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $112.55.

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.