Advisors Preferred LLC Buys Shares of 4,185 Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Advisors Preferred LLC acquired a new position in shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 4,185 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $421,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in VLTO. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of Veralto by 34.6% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,923,747 shares of the company’s stock worth $400,928,000 after buying an additional 1,009,170 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake 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 valued at $1,074,654,000 after purchasing an additional 860,608 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted 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 valued at $125,608,000 after acquiring an additional 757,389 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its holdings in Veralto by 628.4% during the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 579,261 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,998,000 after buying an additional 499,735 shares in the last quarter. 91.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Veralto Trading Up 0.4 %

VLTO stock opened at $98.87 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 1.92. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $102.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $106.25. The firm has a market cap of $24.45 billion, a PE ratio of 29.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.21 and a beta of 1.06. Veralto Co. has a fifty-two week low of $81.23 and a fifty-two week high of $115.00.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.95 EPS 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Veralto Co. will post 3.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Veralto Increases Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This is an increase from Veralto’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. Veralto’s dividend payout ratio is 13.17%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on VLTO. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Veralto in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $125.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Veralto from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup cut their price target 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 lowered their target price on shares of Veralto from $116.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $112.55.

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.