Franklin Resources Inc. Purchases Shares of 2,163,991 Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 2,163,991 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $178,006,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Veralto during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. First Command Advisory Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Veralto during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Blue Trust Inc. bought a new position in shares of Veralto during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Dougherty Wealth Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Veralto during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt bought a new position in shares of Veralto during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. 91.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Melissa Aquino sold 8,041 shares of Veralto stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.56, for a total transaction of $752,315.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,761 shares in the company, valued at $1,942,399.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VLTO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Veralto in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $104.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup raised their target price on Veralto from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Veralto from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Veralto from $97.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Veralto from $78.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.18.

Veralto Price Performance

Veralto stock opened at $101.07 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $91.91 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $83.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 1.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76. Veralto Co. has a fifty-two week low of $65.51 and a fifty-two week high of $101.07.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $1.25 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.23 billion. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Veralto Co. will post 3.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Veralto Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.36%.

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.