Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp Takes Position in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new position in shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 434 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Veralto during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. BankPlus Trust Department acquired a new position in Veralto during the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Albion Financial Group UT raised its stake in Veralto by 2,100.0% during the fourth quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 352 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 336 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Veralto in the 4th quarter valued at $42,000. Finally, Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Veralto by 35.3% in the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 418 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. 91.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Veralto Stock Performance

Veralto stock opened at $98.05 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 1.92. Veralto Co. has a one year low of $85.91 and a one year high of $115.00. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $99.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $104.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.27 billion, a PE ratio of 29.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 1.11.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.05. Veralto had a net margin of 16.04% and a return on equity of 49.29%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Veralto Co. will post 3.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Veralto Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Veralto’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.17%.

Insider Activity at Veralto

In other Veralto news, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 10,414 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 104,496 shares in the company, valued at $10,486,173.60. This represents a 9.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Melissa Aquino sold 463 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,761 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,067,795.60. This represents a 2.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VLTO has been the topic of several research reports. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Veralto in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $125.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Veralto from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Veralto from $116.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price 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. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Veralto has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $113.50.

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.