Welch & Forbes LLC Has $2.01 Million Stake in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Welch & Forbes LLC trimmed its stake in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 14.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 19,683 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,246 shares during the period. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Veralto were worth $2,005,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in Veralto during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. BankPlus Trust Department acquired a new stake in Veralto in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Albion Financial Group UT grew its position in shares of Veralto by 2,100.0% during the 4th 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 period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Veralto during the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,000. Finally, Erste Asset Management GmbH acquired a new stake in shares of Veralto during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $46,000. 91.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Veralto

In other Veralto news, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 10,414 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.35, for a total transaction of $1,045,044.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 104,496 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,486,173.60. This represents a 9.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Melissa Aquino sold 463 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.60, for a total transaction of $46,114.80. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,761 shares in the company, valued at $2,067,795.60. This trade represents a 2.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,467 shares of company stock valued at $1,150,366 over the last 90 days. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Veralto from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Veralto in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus decreased 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $112.55.

Veralto Stock Performance

Shares of VLTO opened at $100.16 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $100.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $105.37. 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 firm has a market cap of $24.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.99, a PEG ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 1.11. Veralto Co. has a twelve month low of $85.90 and a twelve month high of $115.00.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.05. Veralto had a net margin of 16.04% and a return on equity of 49.29%. On average, analysts forecast that Veralto Co. will post 3.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Veralto Dividend Announcement

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

Veralto 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.