Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) Stock Price Down 5.2% – Here’s Why

Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) traded down 5.2% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $96.26 and last traded at $95.76. 591,230 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 55% from the average session volume of 1,301,197 shares. The stock had previously closed at $100.98.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Veralto from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Veralto in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $125.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup dropped their target price on Veralto from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped 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. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $112.55.

Veralto Price Performance

The company has a 50 day moving average price of $103.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $106.25. The firm has a market cap of $24.45 billion, a PE ratio of 30.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.35 and a beta of 1.06. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.05. Veralto had a return on equity of 52.85% and a net margin of 15.69%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Veralto Co. will post 3.48 EPS 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 paid a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. This is a positive change from Veralto’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. Veralto’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.58%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Veralto

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of VLTO. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its stake in Veralto by 123.2% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 3,326 shares of the company’s stock valued at $318,000 after buying an additional 1,836 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank lifted its stake in Veralto by 20.2% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 50,338 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,631,000 after buying an additional 8,474 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Veralto by 26.2% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,953 shares of the company’s stock valued at $442,000 after buying an additional 820 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. lifted its stake in shares of Veralto by 55.8% during the 3rd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 888 shares of the company’s stock worth $99,000 after purchasing an additional 318 shares during the period. Finally, Brookstone Capital Management lifted its stake in shares of Veralto by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 3,240 shares of the company’s stock worth $362,000 after purchasing an additional 266 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

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.