Vontier Co. (NYSE:VNT) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

Vontier Co. (NYSE:VNT) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,330,000 shares, a decrease of 14.0% from the December 15th total of 2,710,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 841,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.8 days. Currently, 1.6% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vontier

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its holdings in shares of Vontier by 18.5% in the 3rd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 374,117 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,623,000 after purchasing an additional 58,362 shares in the last quarter. Stanley Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Vontier in the 2nd quarter valued at $17,954,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its position in Vontier by 9.8% in the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,541,319 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,078,000 after buying an additional 227,388 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd raised its position in Vontier by 394.0% in the 2nd quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 25,028 shares of the company’s stock valued at $956,000 after buying an additional 19,962 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Vontier by 37.6% in the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 13,373 shares of the company’s stock valued at $511,000 after buying an additional 3,655 shares during the last quarter. 95.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays reduced their target price on Vontier from $46.00 to $45.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Citigroup reduced their target price on Vontier from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Wolfe Research upgraded Vontier from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, UBS Group began coverage on Vontier in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $47.00 target price on the stock. Three research 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, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.63.

Vontier Price Performance

Vontier stock opened at $37.20 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.25, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.26. Vontier has a 52-week low of $31.22 and a 52-week high of $45.62. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $37.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.10, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.64.

Vontier (NYSE:VNT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.04. Vontier had a return on equity of 45.48% and a net margin of 13.54%. The company had revenue of $750.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $729.23 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.73 EPS. Vontier’s quarterly revenue was down 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Vontier will post 2.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Vontier Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st were issued a $0.025 dividend. This represents a $0.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 21st. Vontier’s dividend payout ratio is currently 3.83%.

About Vontier

Vontier Corporation provides mobility ecosystem solutions worldwide. The company operates through Mobility Technologies, Repair Solutions, and Environmental and Fueling Solutions segments. The Mobility Technologies segment provides digitally equipment solutions for mobility ecosystem, such as point-of-sale and payment systems, workflow automation, telematics, data analytics, software platform, and integrated solutions for alternative fuel dispensing.