Franklin Resources Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Franklin Resources Inc. trimmed its holdings in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,519,388 shares of the company’s stock after selling 40,710 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Veralto were worth $154,749,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of VLTO. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Veralto in the fourth quarter valued at $289,028,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in Veralto by 34.6% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,923,747 shares of the company’s stock valued at $400,928,000 after buying an additional 1,009,170 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Veralto by 9.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,599,499 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,074,654,000 after buying an additional 860,608 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Veralto by 207.2% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,122,898 shares of the company’s stock worth $125,608,000 after buying an additional 757,389 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Veralto by 10.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,868,620 shares of the company’s stock valued at $654,232,000 after acquiring an additional 558,393 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Veralto

In other Veralto news, SVP Melissa Aquino sold 463 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 20,761 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,067,795.60. This trade represents a 2.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 590 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,470 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $849,964.50. This trade represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 22,471 shares of company stock worth $2,234,030. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on VLTO. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Veralto from $116.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Veralto from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Veralto in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $125.00 target price for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Veralto from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $113.50.

Veralto Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of VLTO opened at $98.72 on Thursday. Veralto Co. has a 1 year low of $85.91 and a 1 year high of $115.00. 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 simple moving average of $99.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $103.73. The firm has a market cap of $24.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.56, a P/E/G ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.97.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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, analysts forecast that Veralto Co. will post 3.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Veralto Dividend Announcement

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 dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Veralto’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.