Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) has received an average rating of “Hold” from the ten brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $113.50.

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Veralto from $116.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Veralto from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Veralto in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on Veralto from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 10,414 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,486,173.60. This trade represents a 9.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 590 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $849,964.50. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,467 shares of company stock valued at $1,150,366 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veralto

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VLTO. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its position in shares of Veralto by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 72,261 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,360,000 after acquiring an additional 2,064 shares during the period. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ bought a new stake in shares of Veralto during the 4th quarter valued at $8,064,000. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH grew its position in shares of Veralto by 68.0% during the 4th quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 9,834 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,002,000 after acquiring an additional 3,979 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in shares of Veralto during the 4th quarter valued at $24,834,000. Finally, Bernard Wealth Management Corp. bought a new stake in shares of Veralto during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. 91.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Veralto Price Performance

Shares of VLTO stock opened at $97.56 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $99.98 and a two-hundred day moving average of $104.35. 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 has a 12 month low of $85.91 and a 12 month high of $115.00. The company has a market capitalization of $24.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.21, a P/E/G ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 1.11.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analysts expect that Veralto will post 3.66 EPS for the current year.

Veralto Dividend Announcement

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

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.