Cetera Investment Advisers Increases Stake in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 6.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 54,334 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,071 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in Veralto were worth $5,534,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VLTO. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Veralto in the 4th quarter valued at $289,028,000. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Veralto by 222.3% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,602,399 shares of the company’s stock valued at $265,054,000 after purchasing an additional 1,794,992 shares in the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Veralto in the 4th quarter worth $133,058,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets purchased a new position in shares of Veralto during the 4th quarter worth $96,888,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Veralto by 12.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,601,676 shares of the company’s stock worth $670,781,000 after acquiring an additional 733,056 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on VLTO shares. Northcoast Research started coverage on Veralto in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. They set a “buy” rating and a $110.00 price target on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Veralto from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Veralto from $103.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Veralto from $105.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on Veralto from $116.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $110.09.

Veralto Stock Down 0.0%

Shares of NYSE:VLTO opened at $100.28 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $94.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $99.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27. The company has a market capitalization of $24.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.02, a PEG ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.99. Veralto Co. has a 12-month low of $83.87 and a 12-month high of $115.00.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $1.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.28 billion. Veralto had a return on equity of 49.29% and a net margin of 16.04%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.84 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Veralto Co. will post 3.66 EPS for the current year.

Veralto Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. Veralto’s payout ratio is 12.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Veralto news, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 590 shares of Veralto stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.35, for a total value of $59,206.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,470 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $849,964.50. The trade was a 6.51% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Melissa Aquino sold 31,689 shares of Veralto stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.67, for a total value of $2,968,308.63. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 17,434 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,633,042.78. This represents a 64.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 64,115 shares of company stock valued at $6,145,933. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Veralto Company Profile

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.