Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Buys 21,939 Shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 39.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 77,217 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 21,939 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in Veralto were worth $7,865,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Veralto by 9.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,599,499 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,074,654,000 after purchasing an additional 860,608 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Veralto by 10.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,868,620 shares of the company’s stock valued at $654,232,000 after buying an additional 558,393 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of Veralto by 34.6% in 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. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Veralto by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,329,717 shares of the company’s stock worth $372,462,000 after acquiring an additional 162,347 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in shares of Veralto by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,885,996 shares of the company’s stock worth $322,827,000 after acquiring an additional 11,430 shares in the last quarter. 91.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Veralto from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Veralto from $116.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Veralto in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Citigroup lowered 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. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $112.55.

Veralto Stock Performance

NYSE:VLTO opened at $98.87 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $103.10 and its 200-day moving average is $106.25. The stock has a market cap of $24.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.35 and a beta of 1.06. Veralto Co. has a 1-year low of $81.23 and a 1-year high of $115.00. The company has a current ratio of 2.13, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last posted its earnings results 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 15.69% and a return on equity of 52.85%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Veralto Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Veralto Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a dividend of $0.11 per share. This is a positive change from Veralto’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. Veralto’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.58%.

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.