Nordea Investment Management AB Boosts Stake in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 34.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,923,747 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,009,170 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB owned 1.59% of Veralto worth $400,928,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Veralto in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Veralto in the second quarter worth about $26,000. Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Veralto in the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. boosted its holdings in Veralto by 11,100.0% in the 2nd quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 336 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 333 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Veralto by 692.3% in the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 309 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

Veralto Trading Up 0.2 %

VLTO stock opened at $100.80 on Monday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $104.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $105.56. Veralto Co. has a 52 week low of $73.91 and a 52 week high of $115.00. The company has a market capitalization of $24.93 billion, a PE ratio of 31.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.30 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.30 billion. Veralto had a net margin of 15.69% and a return on equity of 52.85%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.75 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Veralto Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Veralto Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 752 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.91, for a total value of $77,388.32. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 10,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,071,601.83. This trade represents a 6.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on VLTO shares. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Veralto in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Veralto from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Veralto from $119.00 to $117.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Veralto from $117.00 to $119.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $109.50.

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.