Machina Capital S.A.S. Decreases Stake in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Machina Capital S.A.S. cut its stake in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 62.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 7,116 shares of the company’s stock after selling 11,982 shares during the period. Machina Capital S.A.S.’s holdings in Veralto were worth $725,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Savant Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Veralto by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 20,177 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,055,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its stake in shares of Veralto by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 3,851 shares of the company’s stock worth $431,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Veralto by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 7,338 shares of the company’s stock worth $821,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in shares of Veralto by 19.4% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 622 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Insigneo Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Veralto by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,767 shares of the company’s stock worth $645,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. 91.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VLTO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup cut their target price on Veralto from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Veralto from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Veralto in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Veralto from $116.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Veralto has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $112.55.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Melissa Aquino sold 463 shares of Veralto stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was 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 approximately $2,067,795.60. This trade represents a 2.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 10,414 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.35, for a total value of $1,045,044.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 104,496 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,486,173.60. The trade was a 9.06 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 11,467 shares of company stock worth $1,150,366. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Veralto Stock Performance

NYSE VLTO opened at $100.16 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $24.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.99, a P/E/G 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 stock has a 50-day moving average of $100.69 and a two-hundred day moving average of $105.34. Veralto Co. has a 1-year low of $85.90 and a 1-year high of $115.00.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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, analysts anticipate that Veralto Co. will post 3.66 EPS for the current year.

Veralto Announces Dividend

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