DnB Asset Management AS Grows Position in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

DnB Asset Management AS raised its position in shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 11.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 83,170 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 8,464 shares during the period. DnB Asset Management AS’s holdings in Veralto were worth $8,471,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in Veralto in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. BankPlus Trust Department purchased a new position in shares of Veralto in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Albion Financial Group UT lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 336 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Veralto in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Finally, Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised 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 in the last quarter. 91.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Veralto Price Performance

VLTO stock opened at $95.97 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $99.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $103.97. The company has a market capitalization of $23.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.73, a PEG ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 1.11. Veralto Co. has a twelve month low of $85.91 and a twelve month high of $115.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share 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%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Veralto Co. will post 3.66 EPS for the current year.

Veralto Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.11 dividend. 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 (DPR) is currently 13.17%.

Insider Transactions at Veralto

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

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.