Vontier Co. (NYSE:VNT) Shares Sold by Welch & Forbes LLC

Welch & Forbes LLC decreased its position in shares of Vontier Co. (NYSE:VNT) by 10.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,840 shares of the company’s stock after selling 823 shares during the quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Vontier were worth $236,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. purchased a new position in Vontier during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Vontier by 3,355.3% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,313 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 1,275 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its position in shares of Vontier by 78.9% during the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,911 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,000 after buying an additional 843 shares during the period. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd lifted its holdings in Vontier by 132.1% in the third quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 3,212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $99,000 after acquiring an additional 1,828 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in Vontier in the third quarter worth approximately $108,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.83% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Vontier from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Vontier from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Vontier from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Vontier from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $37.00 to $40.00 in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Vontier from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Vontier currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.00.

Vontier Stock Down 1.6 %

VNT stock traded down $0.66 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $40.53. 100,789 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 761,813. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $42.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.31. Vontier Co. has a 1-year low of $27.21 and a 1-year high of $45.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.21, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.57. The company has a market cap of $6.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.33.

Vontier (NYSE:VNT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $755.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $754.50 million. Vontier had a net margin of 14.02% and a return on equity of 54.84%. Vontier’s quarterly revenue was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.68 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Vontier Co. will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Vontier Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 7th were paid a dividend of $0.025 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 6th. This represents a $0.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.25%. Vontier’s dividend payout ratio is presently 3.62%.

Vontier Company Profile

Vontier Corporation provides mobility ecosystem solutions worldwide. The company operates through Mobility Technologies, Repair Solutions, and Environmental and Fueling Solutions segments. The Mobility Technologies segment provides digitally equipment solutions for mobility ecosystem, such as point-of-sale and payment systems, workflow automation, telematics, data analytics, software platform, and integrated solutions for alternative fuel dispensing.