ING Groep NV Buys 81,285 Shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

ING Groep NV increased its holdings in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 71.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 195,848 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 81,285 shares during the quarter. ING Groep NV’s holdings in Veralto were worth $21,908,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of VLTO. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Veralto in the third quarter worth $25,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in Veralto in the second quarter worth about $26,000. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in Veralto in the first quarter worth about $30,000. Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Veralto during the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. raised its position in Veralto by 11,100.0% during the second quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 336 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 333 shares during the period. 91.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Veralto Stock Performance

Shares of VLTO stock opened at $103.11 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 2.13 and a quick ratio of 1.87. The business has a fifty day moving average of $108.83 and a 200 day moving average of $104.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.50 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.82. Veralto Co. has a 1 year low of $70.06 and a 1 year high of $115.00.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.04. Veralto had a return on equity of 52.85% and a net margin of 15.69%. The firm had revenue of $1.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.75 earnings per share. Veralto’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Veralto Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Veralto Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Investors of record on Friday, September 27th were issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 27th. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.35%. Veralto’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.11%.

Insider Activity at Veralto

In related news, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 13,190 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.15, for a total transaction of $1,452,878.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 138,546 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,260,841.90. This represents a 8.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 753 shares of Veralto stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.55, for a total transaction of $84,750.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,256,620.75. The trade was a 6.32 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 36,038 shares of company stock worth $3,989,693 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on VLTO. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Veralto from $117.00 to $119.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Veralto from $98.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Veralto from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Veralto from $100.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price target on Veralto from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Veralto has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $108.27.

About Veralto

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.