Sky Investment Group LLC Lowers Holdings in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Sky Investment Group LLC lowered its position in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 11.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,657 shares of the company’s stock after selling 458 shares during the quarter. Sky Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Veralto were worth $372,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of VLTO. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Veralto by 9.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,599,499 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,074,654,000 after buying an additional 860,608 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Veralto by 10.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,868,620 shares of the company’s stock worth $654,232,000 after acquiring an additional 558,393 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in Veralto by 34.6% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,923,747 shares of the company’s stock valued at $400,928,000 after purchasing an additional 1,009,170 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Veralto by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,329,717 shares of the company’s stock valued at $372,462,000 after purchasing an additional 162,347 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in shares of Veralto by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,885,996 shares of the company’s stock worth $322,827,000 after purchasing an additional 11,430 shares during the period. 91.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Veralto Stock Performance

Shares of VLTO opened at $102.98 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $104.07 and a two-hundred day moving average of $105.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 2.13. The stock has a market cap of $25.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.78, a P/E/G ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 1.06. Veralto Co. has a one year low of $75.03 and a one year high of $115.00.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.04. Veralto had a return on equity of 52.85% and a net margin of 15.69%. The firm had revenue of $1.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.75 earnings per share. Veralto’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Veralto Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current year.

Veralto Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a boost from Veralto’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. Veralto’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.58%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on VLTO shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Veralto from $117.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Veralto in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price target for the company. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Veralto from $119.00 to $117.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Veralto from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Veralto from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $113.27.

Insider Activity at Veralto

In other Veralto news, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 752 shares of Veralto stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.91, for a total transaction of $77,388.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 10,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,071,601.83. This trade represents a 6.74 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.