Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) was the target of a large growth in short interest in February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,890,000 shares, a growth of 20.4% from the January 31st total of 4,060,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,420,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.4 days. Currently, 2.1% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on VLTO shares. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Veralto from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup decreased their target price 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. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target 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, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Veralto in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price target for the company. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $112.55.

Insider Activity

In other 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 value of $46,114.80. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 this hyperlink. Also, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 590 shares of the 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,470 shares in the company, valued at approximately $849,964.50. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 11,467 shares of company stock worth $1,150,366 in the last 90 days. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Veralto

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH increased its stake in Veralto by 68.0% during the 4th quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 9,834 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,002,000 after buying an additional 3,979 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in Veralto during the 4th quarter worth $24,834,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. purchased a new stake in Veralto during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Veralto during the 4th quarter worth $60,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its stake in Veralto by 19.9% during the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 23,097 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,352,000 after buying an additional 3,831 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

Veralto Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of VLTO stock traded up $2.19 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $100.14. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 818,871 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,445,477. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $100.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $105.43. Veralto has a 12-month low of $85.90 and a 12-month high of $115.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.79 billion, a PE ratio of 29.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 1.11.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last issued its 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%. On average, research analysts predict that Veralto will post 3.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Veralto Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Veralto’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.17%.

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.