Stephens Inc. AR Cuts Stock Position in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Stephens Inc. AR lessened its stake in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 10.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,010 shares of the company’s stock after selling 586 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Veralto were worth $510,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VLTO. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in Veralto by 5.9% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 6,138 shares of the company’s stock worth $687,000 after acquiring an additional 343 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning boosted its holdings in Veralto by 2.9% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 26,186 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,929,000 after acquiring an additional 726 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its holdings in Veralto by 112.9% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 55,278 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,183,000 after acquiring an additional 29,313 shares in the last quarter. Addison Capital Co boosted its holdings in Veralto by 67.2% in the third quarter. Addison Capital Co now owns 15,120 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,691,000 after acquiring an additional 6,077 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Veralto by 17.4% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,220 shares of the company’s stock worth $248,000 after acquiring an additional 329 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on VLTO shares. Citigroup lowered their price target on Veralto from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. 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 report on Thursday, February 6th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Veralto in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $125.00 target price for the company. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Veralto from $116.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Veralto has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $112.55.

Insider Activity

In other 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 value of $46,114.80. Following the completion of the sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Veralto Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of VLTO stock opened at $98.04 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $102.37 and a 200 day moving average of $106.21. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27. The stock has a market cap of $24.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.35, a P/E/G ratio of 4.21 and a beta of 1.06. Veralto Co. has a twelve month low of $83.34 and a twelve month high of $115.00.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last announced its quarterly 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 return on equity of 49.29% and a net margin of 16.04%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Veralto Co. will post 3.63 EPS for the current year.

Veralto Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This is a boost from Veralto’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Veralto’s payout ratio is 13.17%.

Veralto 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.