National Pension Service Sells 156,680 Shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

National Pension Service cut its holdings in shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 32.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 326,923 shares of the company’s stock after selling 156,680 shares during the period. National Pension Service owned 0.13% of Veralto worth $33,297,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Savant Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Veralto by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 20,177 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,055,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its stake in Veralto by 2.6% in the third quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 3,851 shares of the company’s stock valued at $431,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Veralto by 1.4% in the third quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 7,338 shares of the company’s stock valued at $821,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake in Veralto by 19.4% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 622 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Blueprint LLC boosted its stake in Veralto by 4.5% in the third quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 2,394 shares of the company’s stock valued at $268,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. 91.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on VLTO shares. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Veralto from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Veralto in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $125.00 target price for the company. 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. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Veralto from $116.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $112.55.

Veralto Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of Veralto stock opened at $99.83 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.69. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $101.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $105.70. Veralto Co. has a 1 year low of $85.70 and a 1 year high of $115.00. The stock has a market cap of $24.71 billion, a PE ratio of 29.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 1.06.

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

Veralto Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This is a boost from Veralto’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. Veralto’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Melissa Aquino sold 463 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.60, for a total transaction of $46,114.80. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 20,761 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,067,795.60. This trade represents a 2.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 10,414 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 104,496 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,486,173.60. This represents a 9.06 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,467 shares of company stock valued at $1,150,366 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Veralto 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.