Vanguard Group Inc. Buys 146,234 Shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 29,347,185 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 146,234 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 11.87% of Veralto worth $2,989,011,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in Veralto by 34.6% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,923,747 shares of the company’s stock worth $400,928,000 after buying an additional 1,009,170 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Veralto by 9.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,599,499 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,074,654,000 after acquiring an additional 860,608 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Veralto by 207.2% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,122,898 shares of the company’s stock worth $125,608,000 after purchasing an additional 757,389 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Veralto by 10.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,868,620 shares of the company’s stock valued at $654,232,000 after purchasing an additional 558,393 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Veralto in the 4th quarter worth about $51,986,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

Veralto Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of Veralto stock opened at $97.74 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.69. The stock has a market cap of $24.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.26, a PEG ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 1.11. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $99.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $104.19. Veralto Co. has a 1 year low of $85.91 and a 1 year high of $115.00.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.05. Veralto had a net margin of 16.04% and a return on equity of 49.29%. As a group, research analysts expect that Veralto Co. will post 3.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Veralto Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Veralto’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.17%.

Insider Activity at Veralto

In other Veralto news, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 10,414 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.56, for a total value of $1,026,403.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 116,637 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,495,742.72. This trade represents a 8.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 590 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.35, for a total transaction of $59,206.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,470 shares in the company, valued at approximately $849,964.50. This trade represents a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 21,881 shares of company stock valued at $2,176,770 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Citigroup cut their target price on Veralto from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Veralto from $116.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Veralto from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Veralto in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price target on the stock. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $113.50.

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.