Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) Position Boosted by DB Fitzpatrick & Co Inc

DB Fitzpatrick & Co Inc raised its holdings in shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 58.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 15,031 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,517 shares during the period. Veralto makes up approximately 1.4% of DB Fitzpatrick & Co Inc’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest holding. DB Fitzpatrick & Co Inc’s holdings in Veralto were worth $1,531,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its holdings in shares of Veralto by 32.9% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 243,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,256,000 after acquiring an additional 60,300 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in Veralto by 34.6% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,923,747 shares of the company’s stock valued at $400,928,000 after purchasing an additional 1,009,170 shares in the last quarter. PEAK6 Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Veralto by 246.3% during the 3rd quarter. PEAK6 Investments LLC now owns 8,733 shares of the company’s stock valued at $977,000 after purchasing an additional 6,211 shares during the period. Northstar Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Veralto by 22.5% in the 3rd quarter. Northstar Asset Management Inc. now owns 78,326 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,762,000 after buying an additional 14,398 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in shares of Veralto by 10.2% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 163,227 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,259,000 after buying an additional 15,048 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 752 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.91, for a total transaction of $77,388.32. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 10,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,071,601.83. This represents a 6.74 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Veralto Stock Performance

VLTO stock opened at $102.98 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $104.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $105.76. Veralto Co. has a 52 week low of $75.03 and a 52 week high of $115.00. The stock has a market cap of $25.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.78, a P/E/G ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 2.13.

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

Veralto Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a boost from Veralto’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. Veralto’s payout ratio is 13.58%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VLTO has been the topic of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Veralto from $117.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Veralto in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $125.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Veralto from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Veralto from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Veralto from $119.00 to $117.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Veralto presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $113.27.

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.