Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) Short Interest Up 20.4% in February

Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) was the target of a large growth in short interest in February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,890,000 shares, a growth of 20.4% from the January 31st total of 4,060,000 shares. Currently, 2.1% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,420,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.4 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Insider Transactions at Veralto

In related news, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 10,414 shares of Veralto stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.35, for a total transaction of $1,045,044.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 104,496 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,486,173.60. The trade was a 9.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 590 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.35, for a total transaction 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. This trade represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,467 shares of company stock worth $1,150,366 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of VLTO. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH boosted its holdings in shares of Veralto by 68.0% in the fourth 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 purchased a new stake in Veralto in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $24,834,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. purchased a new position in shares of Veralto during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Putney Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Veralto in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $60,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of Veralto by 19.9% in the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 23,097 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,352,000 after buying an additional 3,831 shares in the last quarter. 91.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Veralto Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of Veralto stock traded up $2.19 on Friday, reaching $100.14. The company had a trading volume of 818,871 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,445,477. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $100.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $105.43. The firm has a market cap of $24.79 billion, a PE ratio of 29.98, a PEG ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 1.11. Veralto has a 52-week low of $85.90 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 announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share 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%. Sell-side analysts predict that Veralto will post 3.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Veralto Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. 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.