Norges Bank Acquires New Shares in Vontier Co. (NYSE:VNT)

Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Vontier Co. (NYSE:VNT) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 1,778,708 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,869,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in Vontier by 2,814.5% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 281,836 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,164,000 after acquiring an additional 272,166 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Vontier during the fourth quarter worth $9,363,000. Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its holdings in shares of Vontier by 42.1% in the 4th quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 705,740 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,738,000 after buying an additional 209,227 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC increased its position in shares of Vontier by 398.4% in the 3rd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 191,285 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,454,000 after buying an additional 152,904 shares in the last quarter. Finally, River Road Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Vontier by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 2,502,132 shares of the company’s stock worth $91,253,000 after buying an additional 145,574 shares during the period. 95.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Wolfe Research upgraded Vontier from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group began coverage on Vontier in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $47.00 target price for the company. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Vontier from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Vontier from $46.00 to $45.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Vontier from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.50.

Vontier Price Performance

NYSE:VNT opened at $30.42 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $4.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.51. Vontier Co. has a 52-week low of $30.17 and a 52-week high of $44.25. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $36.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.37.

Vontier (NYSE:VNT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.01. Vontier had a net margin of 14.17% and a return on equity of 43.22%. The business had revenue of $776.80 million during the quarter. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Vontier Co. will post 3.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vontier Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 6th were paid a dividend of $0.025 per share. This represents a $0.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 6th. Vontier’s dividend payout ratio is presently 3.64%.

Vontier Company Profile

Vontier Corporation provides mobility ecosystem solutions worldwide. The company operates through Mobility Technologies, Repair Solutions, and Environmental and Fueling Solutions segments. The Mobility Technologies segment provides digitally equipment solutions for mobility ecosystem, such as point-of-sale and payment systems, workflow automation, telematics, data analytics, software platform, and integrated solutions for alternative fuel dispensing.