Sentry Investment Management LLC Sells 840 Shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Sentry Investment Management LLC lessened its holdings in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 14.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,159 shares of the company’s stock after selling 840 shares during the period. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Veralto were worth $525,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in Veralto by 10.3% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 11,858 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,326,000 after purchasing an additional 1,103 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Veralto by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 15,282 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,709,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Veralto by 23,720.1% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 106,714 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,937,000 after buying an additional 106,266 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of Veralto by 8.3% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 12,226 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,368,000 after acquiring an additional 936 shares during the period. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its holdings in Veralto by 12.1% during the third quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 13,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,555,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares during the period. 91.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Veralto

In related news, SVP Melissa Aquino sold 463 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.60, for a total value of $46,114.80. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,761 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,067,795.60. This represents a 2.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on VLTO shares. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Veralto in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price target for the company. 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 report on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Veralto from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective 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 five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $112.55.

Veralto Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:VLTO opened at $100.04 on Tuesday. Veralto Co. has a 12 month low of $85.70 and a 12 month high of $115.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27. The stock has a market cap of $24.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.95, a P/E/G ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a 50 day moving average of $101.33 and a 200 day moving average of $105.88.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.95 EPS 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Veralto Co. will post 3.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Veralto Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a $0.11 dividend. This is a positive change from Veralto’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. Veralto’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.17%.

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.