Short Interest in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) Declines By 21.0%

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

Veralto Trading Up 0.2 %

VLTO stock traded up $0.16 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $97.61. 1,380,052 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,504,058. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $99.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $103.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.23, a PEG ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 1.11. Veralto has a 12-month low of $85.91 and a 12-month high of $115.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last posted 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%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Veralto will post 3.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Veralto Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Veralto news, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 10,414 shares of Veralto stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.56, for a total transaction of $1,026,403.84. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 116,637 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,495,742.72. The trade was a 8.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Melissa Aquino sold 463 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.60, for a total transaction of $46,114.80. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 20,761 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 21,881 shares of company stock worth $2,176,770. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veralto

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Savant Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Veralto by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 20,177 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,055,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in shares of Veralto by 19.4% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 622 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Veralto by 1.8% in the third quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,767 shares of the company’s stock valued at $645,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC grew its stake in Veralto by 17.3% during the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 699 shares of the company’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Veralto by 35.3% during the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 418 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the period. 91.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Citigroup decreased their target price 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 assumed coverage on Veralto in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Veralto from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Veralto from $116.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $113.50.

Veralto Company 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.