Norges Bank Takes Position in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 2,837,778 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $289,028,000. Norges Bank owned 1.15% of Veralto at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Veralto by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,347,185 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,989,011,000 after purchasing an additional 146,234 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in Veralto by 9.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,599,499 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,074,654,000 after purchasing an additional 860,608 shares in the last quarter. Amundi increased its stake in Veralto by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 7,169,702 shares of the company’s stock valued at $731,084,000 after buying an additional 158,342 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Veralto by 10.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,868,620 shares of the company’s stock worth $654,232,000 after buying an additional 558,393 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Veralto by 34.6% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,923,747 shares of the company’s stock worth $400,928,000 after buying an additional 1,009,170 shares in the last quarter. 91.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Veralto Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of Veralto stock opened at $95.97 on Friday. Veralto Co. 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. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $99.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $103.97. The stock 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 (NYSE:VLTO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. Equities analysts expect that Veralto Co. will post 3.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Veralto Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.11 per share. 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 is presently 13.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Melissa Aquino sold 463 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $2,067,795.60. The trade was a 2.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 590 shares of Veralto stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.35, for a total value of $59,206.50. Following 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In 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.

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.