Hartford Investment Management Co. Has $1.56 Million Stock Position in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Hartford Investment Management Co. lowered its holdings in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 1.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,269 shares of the company’s stock after selling 295 shares during the quarter. Hartford Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Veralto were worth $1,555,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Veralto in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Veralto by 692.3% in the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 309 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 270 shares during the period. Albion Financial Group UT lifted its position in shares of Veralto by 2,100.0% in the 4th quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 352 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 336 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Veralto in the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Veralto by 140.1% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 437 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 255 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Melissa Aquino sold 463 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 $2,067,795.60. This represents a 2.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Veralto Price Performance

Veralto stock opened at $99.77 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.87. The company has a market capitalization of $24.67 billion, a PE ratio of 29.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.21 and a beta of 1.06. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $102.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $106.26. Veralto Co. has a one year low of $82.90 and a one year high of $115.00.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.05. Veralto had a return on equity of 49.29% and a net margin of 16.04%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Veralto Co. will post 3.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Veralto Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. This is a positive change from Veralto’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. Veralto’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.17%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VLTO has been the subject of a number of research reports. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Veralto from $116.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Veralto from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Veralto in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Veralto from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $112.55.

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.