Stephens Inc. AR Reduces Holdings in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Stephens Inc. AR trimmed its position in shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 10.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,010 shares of the company’s stock after selling 586 shares during the quarter. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Veralto were worth $510,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VLTO. CWM LLC increased its position in shares of Veralto by 5.9% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 6,138 shares of the company’s stock worth $687,000 after purchasing an additional 343 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning increased its position in shares of Veralto by 2.9% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 26,186 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,929,000 after purchasing an additional 726 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its position in shares of Veralto by 112.9% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 55,278 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,183,000 after purchasing an additional 29,313 shares in the last quarter. Addison Capital Co boosted its stake in Veralto by 67.2% during the third quarter. Addison Capital Co now owns 15,120 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,691,000 after buying an additional 6,077 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in Veralto by 17.4% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,220 shares of the company’s stock worth $248,000 after buying an additional 329 shares during the last quarter. 91.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Veralto Price Performance

VLTO opened at $98.04 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $102.37 and its 200 day moving average price is $106.21. Veralto Co. has a 12-month low of $83.34 and a 12-month high of $115.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27. The firm has a market cap of $24.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.35, a PEG ratio of 4.21 and a beta of 1.06.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.05. Veralto had a return on equity of 49.29% and a net margin of 16.04%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Veralto Co. will post 3.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Veralto Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. This is an increase from Veralto’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. Veralto’s dividend payout ratio is 13.17%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Veralto news, SVP Melissa Aquino sold 463 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.60, for a total transaction of $46,114.80. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 20,761 shares in the company, valued at $2,067,795.60. This represents a 2.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on VLTO shares. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Veralto in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Veralto from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Veralto from $116.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Veralto from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Veralto currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $112.55.

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.