B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG Trims Stake in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG cut its holdings in shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 42.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 36,682 shares of the company’s stock after selling 26,697 shares during the quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG’s holdings in Veralto were worth $3,736,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. PEAK6 Investments LLC lifted its stake in Veralto by 246.3% during the third quarter. PEAK6 Investments LLC now owns 8,733 shares of the company’s stock worth $977,000 after purchasing an additional 6,211 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 1,009,170 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its position in Veralto by 18.4% in the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 17,228 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,755,000 after acquiring an additional 2,676 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank increased its stake in Veralto by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 53,622 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,461,000 after purchasing an additional 3,284 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Veralto by 15.5% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 14,115 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,438,000 after purchasing an additional 1,889 shares in the last quarter. 91.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VLTO has been the subject of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Veralto from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Veralto from $116.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Veralto from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Veralto in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $125.00 target price for the company. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $113.50.

Insider Activity at Veralto

In related news, 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 owns 8,470 shares in the company, valued at $849,964.50. This trade represents a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 10,414 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 21,881 shares of company stock valued at $2,176,770 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Veralto Stock Up 0.2 %

Veralto stock opened at $97.61 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $24.16 billion, a PE ratio of 29.23, a P/E/G ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 1.11. 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’s fifty day moving average is $99.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $103.77. Veralto Co. has a 1-year low of $85.91 and a 1-year high of $115.00.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.05. Veralto had a return on equity of 49.29% and a net margin of 16.04%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Veralto Co. will post 3.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Veralto Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. Veralto’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.17%.

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.