Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) Stake Boosted by LPL Financial LLC

LPL Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 4.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 395,336 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,633 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC owned about 0.16% of Veralto worth $40,265,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Nordea Investment Management AB grew 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 purchasing an additional 1,009,170 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Veralto by 9.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,599,499 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,074,654,000 after buying an additional 860,608 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Veralto by 207.2% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,122,898 shares of the company’s stock worth $125,608,000 after buying an additional 757,389 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased 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 valued at $654,232,000 after acquiring an additional 558,393 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Veralto during the 4th quarter valued at $51,986,000. Institutional investors own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 590 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,470 shares in the company, valued at $849,964.50. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Melissa Aquino sold 463 shares of Veralto stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.60, for a total value of $46,114.80. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,761 shares in the company, valued at $2,067,795.60. This represents a 2.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 21,881 shares of company stock valued at $2,176,770. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on VLTO shares. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Veralto from $116.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Veralto from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Veralto in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price target for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective 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. Six investment 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, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $113.50.

Veralto Stock Down 2.0 %

NYSE VLTO opened at $95.97 on Friday. The company 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 Co. has a 12 month low of $85.91 and a 12 month high of $115.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.69. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $99.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $104.01.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share (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%. Equities research analysts expect that Veralto Co. will post 3.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Veralto Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. Veralto’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.17%.

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.