American Century Companies Inc. Has $36.60 Million Stake in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

American Century Companies Inc. reduced its stake in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 42.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 359,331 shares of the company’s stock after selling 269,463 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Veralto were worth $36,598,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VLTO. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of Veralto by 34.6% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,923,747 shares of the company’s stock worth $400,928,000 after buying an additional 1,009,170 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in Veralto by 9.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,599,499 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,074,654,000 after acquiring an additional 860,608 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Veralto by 207.2% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,122,898 shares of the company’s stock valued at $125,608,000 after acquiring an additional 757,389 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Veralto by 10.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,868,620 shares of the company’s stock valued at $654,232,000 after purchasing an additional 558,393 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Veralto in the fourth quarter worth about $51,986,000. Institutional investors own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on VLTO. Citigroup lowered their target price on Veralto from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Veralto in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Veralto from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Veralto from $116.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Veralto presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $113.50.

Veralto Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of Veralto stock opened at $98.05 on Friday. Veralto Co. has a 52-week low of $85.91 and a 52-week high of $115.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.27 billion, a PE ratio of 29.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.69. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $99.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $104.11.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.05. Veralto had a net margin of 16.04% and a return on equity of 49.29%. On average, analysts expect that Veralto Co. will post 3.66 EPS for the current year.

Veralto Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Veralto’s payout ratio is presently 13.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Melissa Aquino sold 463 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.60, for a total transaction of $46,114.80. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 20,761 shares in the company, valued at $2,067,795.60. This trade represents a 2.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 590 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.35, for a total transaction of $59,206.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,470 shares in the company, valued at approximately $849,964.50. This trade represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 21,881 shares of company stock worth $2,176,770 in the last 90 days. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.