Vontobel Holding Ltd. Grows Stock Holdings in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its holdings in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 4.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 549,428 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 23,768 shares during the quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Veralto were worth $55,959,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VLTO. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Veralto in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Veralto by 692.3% during the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 309 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares during the period. Albion Financial Group UT increased its holdings in shares of Veralto by 2,100.0% during the 4th quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 352 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 336 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Veralto in the 4th quarter valued at $42,000. Finally, Erste Asset Management GmbH purchased a new stake in Veralto during the third quarter worth $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

Veralto Price Performance

Shares of Veralto stock opened at $99.77 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.87. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $102.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $106.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.87, a PEG ratio of 4.21 and a beta of 1.06. Veralto Co. has a 12 month low of $82.90 and a 12 month high of $115.00.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share 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%. As a group, analysts predict that Veralto Co. will post 3.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Veralto Increases Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on VLTO. Citigroup cut their price objective 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. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Veralto from $116.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Veralto in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price target for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Veralto from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $112.55.

Insider Activity at Veralto

In other Veralto news, SVP Melissa Aquino sold 463 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.60, for a total value of $46,114.80. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,761 shares in the company, valued at $2,067,795.60. This represents a 2.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.