Federated Hermes Inc. Buys 417,497 Shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Federated Hermes Inc. increased its stake in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 15.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,036,708 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 417,497 shares during the period. Veralto makes up 0.7% of Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in Veralto were worth $309,291,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Savant Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Veralto by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 20,177 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,055,000 after buying an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in shares of Veralto by 19.4% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 622 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Veralto by 1.8% in the third quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,767 shares of the company’s stock valued at $645,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC raised its position in Veralto by 17.3% during the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 699 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Veralto by 35.3% in the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 418 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 10,414 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were 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 directly owns 104,496 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,486,173.60. This represents a 9.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Melissa Aquino sold 463 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.60, for a total transaction of $46,114.80. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 20,761 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,067,795.60. This trade represents a 2.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 22,471 shares of company stock valued at $2,234,030. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Veralto Stock Down 5.5 %

Shares of NYSE VLTO opened at $88.71 on Friday. Veralto Co. has a 1 year low of $86.04 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 firm has a market cap of $22.00 billion, a PE ratio of 26.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $98.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $103.48.

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

Veralto Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. Veralto’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.17%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.