Vontier Co. (NYSE:VNT) Short Interest Down 18.6% in November

Vontier Co. (NYSE:VNT) saw a significant drop in short interest during the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,370,000 shares, a drop of 18.6% from the October 31st total of 2,910,000 shares. Currently, 1.6% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 914,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.6 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Boston Partners acquired a new position in shares of Vontier in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,231,000. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of Vontier by 651.9% in the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 29,895 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,142,000 after purchasing an additional 25,919 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its stake in shares of Vontier by 18.5% in the 3rd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 374,117 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,623,000 after purchasing an additional 58,362 shares during the period. Stanley Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Vontier in the 2nd quarter valued at about $17,954,000. Finally, Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Vontier in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,060,000. 95.83% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Vontier Price Performance

Shares of VNT traded up $0.08 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $39.26. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 675,918 shares, compared to its average volume of 934,433. Vontier has a one year low of $31.22 and a one year high of $45.62. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $36.04 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $36.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.25.

Vontier (NYSE:VNT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $750.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $729.23 million. Vontier had a return on equity of 45.48% and a net margin of 13.54%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.73 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Vontier will post 2.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vontier Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.025 per share. This represents a $0.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.25%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Vontier’s payout ratio is presently 3.83%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VNT has been the subject of several research reports. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Vontier from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Barclays lifted their price target on Vontier from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Argus cut Vontier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Vontier from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 19th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Vontier currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.50.

About Vontier

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.