Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) saw a significant decline in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,530,000 shares, a decline of 21.0% from the February 28th total of 4,470,000 shares. Approximately 1.5% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 1,460,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.4 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Veralto Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE VLTO opened at $95.97 on Monday. Veralto has a 52-week low of $85.91 and a 52-week high of $115.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 1.92. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $99.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $103.94. The company has a market capitalization of $23.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 1.11.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last posted 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 forecast that Veralto will post 3.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Veralto Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. Veralto’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.17%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Melissa Aquino sold 463 shares of Veralto stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.60, for a total value of $46,114.80. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,761 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,067,795.60. The trade was a 2.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 590 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.35, for a total value of $59,206.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,470 shares in the company, valued at $849,964.50. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 21,881 shares of company stock valued at $2,176,770. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Veralto

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. bought a new stake in Veralto during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in Veralto in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. BankPlus Trust Department bought a new position in Veralto during the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Albion Financial Group UT increased its position in Veralto by 2,100.0% in the fourth quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 352 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 336 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Veralto in the fourth quarter valued at $42,000. 91.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.