Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) Shares Sold by Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund cut its holdings in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 7.3% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 7,237 shares of the company’s stock after selling 573 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in Veralto were worth $642,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VLTO. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Veralto by 6.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,429,158 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,431,869,000 after purchasing an additional 1,568,103 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its position in Veralto by 8.5% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,097,130 shares of the company’s stock valued at $629,232,000 after purchasing an additional 553,021 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. purchased a new stake in Veralto in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $528,018,000. Impax Asset Management Group plc purchased a new stake in Veralto in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $347,827,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Veralto by 18.4% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,978,120 shares of the company’s stock valued at $352,700,000 after purchasing an additional 617,441 shares during the period. 91.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Veralto

In other Veralto news, SVP Mattias Bystrom sold 302 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.38, for a total value of $30,314.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 34,045 shares in the company, valued at $3,417,437.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup upped their price objective on Veralto from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Veralto from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $101.00 price objective on shares of Veralto in a research report on Friday, June 14th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Veralto from $97.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, TD Cowen assumed coverage on Veralto in a research report on Monday, June 17th. They set a “hold” rating and a $95.00 price objective on the stock. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Veralto currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $97.08.

Veralto Stock Up 5.3 %

Shares of VLTO stock traded up $5.26 on Friday, reaching $104.87. 3,164,725 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,589,276. The company has a current ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $98.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $91.09. The company has a market capitalization of $25.89 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.81. Veralto Co. has a twelve month low of $65.51 and a twelve month high of $107.86.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.04. Veralto had a net margin of 15.60% and a return on equity of 62.93%. The company had revenue of $1.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.80 earnings per share. Veralto’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Veralto Co. will post 3.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Veralto Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be paid a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.34%. Veralto’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.89%.

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.