Grandfield & Dodd LLC Cuts Position in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Grandfield & Dodd LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 18.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,333 shares of the company’s stock after selling 766 shares during the quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC’s holdings in Veralto were worth $339,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. lifted its position in shares of Veralto by 33.7% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 5,810 shares of the company’s stock valued at $650,000 after buying an additional 1,466 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. lifted its holdings in Veralto by 16.6% during the third quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 7,549 shares of the company’s stock valued at $844,000 after purchasing an additional 1,072 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Veralto by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,353 shares of the company’s stock worth $263,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. James Investment Research Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Veralto in the third quarter worth approximately $211,000. Finally, F M Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Veralto during the third quarter worth $1,380,000. 91.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Veralto Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of VLTO stock opened at $99.83 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $101.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $105.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 1.92. Veralto Co. has a fifty-two week low of $85.70 and a fifty-two week high of $115.00.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.05. Veralto had a return on equity of 49.29% and a net margin of 16.04%. Equities research analysts predict that Veralto Co. will post 3.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Veralto Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a $0.11 dividend. This is a boost from Veralto’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. Veralto’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 10,414 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.35, for a total value of $1,045,044.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 104,496 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,486,173.60. This represents a 9.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Melissa Aquino sold 463 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.60, for a total value of $46,114.80. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,761 shares in the company, valued at $2,067,795.60. This trade represents a 2.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 11,467 shares of company stock worth $1,150,366 over the last 90 days. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VLTO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Veralto from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Veralto from $116.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup cut their price objective on Veralto from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, 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 on the stock. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.