Norges Bank Purchases New Position in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 2,837,778 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $289,028,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Veralto during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. BankPlus Trust Department acquired a new stake in shares of Veralto during the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Albion Financial Group UT increased its holdings in shares of Veralto by 2,100.0% during the fourth quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 352 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 336 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Veralto in the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,000. Finally, Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Veralto by 35.3% during the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 418 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. 91.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Veralto Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of Veralto stock opened at $95.97 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27. Veralto Co. has a 12 month low of $85.91 and a 12 month high of $115.00. The stock has a market cap of $23.76 billion, a PE ratio of 28.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $99.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $103.97.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last released its quarterly 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 net margin of 16.04% and a return on equity of 49.29%. Research analysts predict that Veralto Co. will post 3.66 EPS for the current year.

Veralto Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders 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 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Veralto’s dividend payout ratio is 13.17%.

Insider Activity

In other Veralto news, 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 in the company, valued at approximately $10,486,173.60. The trade was a 9.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 590 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $59,206.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,470 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $849,964.50. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 21,881 shares of company stock worth $2,176,770 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on VLTO. 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. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Veralto from $116.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Veralto from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Veralto in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $125.00 target price for the company. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Veralto currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $113.50.

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.