Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Purchases 11,580 Shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its stake in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 16.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 83,067 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,580 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Veralto were worth $8,460,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of VLTO. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Veralto by 34.6% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,923,747 shares of the company’s stock worth $400,928,000 after acquiring an additional 1,009,170 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Veralto by 9.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,599,499 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,074,654,000 after acquiring an additional 860,608 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Veralto by 207.2% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,122,898 shares of the company’s stock worth $125,608,000 after acquiring an additional 757,389 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Veralto by 10.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,868,620 shares of the company’s stock worth $654,232,000 after acquiring an additional 558,393 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its stake in shares of Veralto by 628.4% in the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 579,261 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,998,000 after acquiring an additional 499,735 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

Veralto Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE VLTO opened at $100.76 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $24.92 billion, a PE ratio of 30.17, a PEG ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 1.06. The business has a fifty day moving average of $101.28 and a two-hundred day moving average of $105.84. Veralto Co. has a 52-week low of $85.70 and a 52-week high of $115.00. 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 (NYSE:VLTO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.05. Veralto had a return on equity of 49.29% and a net margin of 16.04%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Veralto Co. will post 3.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Veralto Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. This is a boost from Veralto’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. Veralto’s payout ratio is currently 13.17%.

Insider Activity at Veralto

In related news, SVP Melissa Aquino sold 463 shares of Veralto stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.60, for a total value of $46,114.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,761 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,067,795.60. The trade was a 2.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on VLTO shares. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Veralto from $116.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Veralto from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup decreased their price target 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. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Veralto in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price target on the stock. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $112.55.

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.