California Public Employees Retirement System Trims Holdings in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

California Public Employees Retirement System trimmed its holdings in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 6.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 382,774 shares of the company’s stock after selling 25,686 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.15% of Veralto worth $38,986,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of VLTO. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Veralto by 34.6% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,923,747 shares of the company’s stock worth $400,928,000 after acquiring an additional 1,009,170 shares during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its stake in Veralto by 18.4% in the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 17,228 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,755,000 after purchasing an additional 2,676 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank grew its position in Veralto by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 53,622 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,461,000 after purchasing an additional 3,284 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Veralto by 15.5% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 14,115 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,438,000 after purchasing an additional 1,889 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new position in Veralto in the third quarter worth about $576,000. 91.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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 transaction of $46,114.80. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,761 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,067,795.60. The trade was a 2.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 10,414 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.35, for a total value of $1,045,044.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 104,496 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,486,173.60. This represents a 9.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 22,471 shares of company stock worth $2,234,030 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Veralto Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:VLTO opened at $98.72 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $99.18 and a 200 day moving average of $103.73. The company has a market cap of $24.49 billion, a PE ratio of 29.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.97. Veralto Co. has a 12-month low of $85.91 and a 12-month high of $115.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.05. Veralto had a net margin of 16.04% and a return on equity of 49.29%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Veralto Co. will post 3.66 EPS for the current year.

Veralto Announces Dividend

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. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Veralto’s payout ratio is currently 13.17%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on VLTO. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Veralto from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced 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. 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, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Veralto from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $113.50.

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.