Heritage Trust Co Purchases Shares of 5,076 Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Heritage Trust Co acquired a new stake in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 5,076 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $517,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Veralto in the 4th quarter valued at $289,028,000. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Veralto by 207.2% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,122,898 shares of the company’s stock valued at $125,608,000 after acquiring an additional 757,389 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Veralto by 12.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,601,676 shares of the company’s stock valued at $670,781,000 after acquiring an additional 733,056 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Veralto in the fourth quarter valued at about $51,986,000. 91.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 590 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.35, for a total transaction of $59,206.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,470 shares in the company, valued at $849,964.50. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 10,414 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.56, for a total value of $1,026,403.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 116,637 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,495,742.72. This represents a 8.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 22,471 shares of company stock worth $2,234,030 in the last three months. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Veralto Stock Up 1.1 %

NYSE VLTO opened at $89.69 on Friday. Veralto Co. has a fifty-two week low of $83.87 and a fifty-two week high of $115.00. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $96.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $102.48. 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 capitalization of $22.25 billion, a PE ratio of 26.85, a PEG ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.97.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share 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%. Equities analysts expect that Veralto Co. will post 3.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Veralto Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Veralto’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.17%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on VLTO shares. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Veralto from $116.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup cut their price target on Veralto from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Veralto from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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.