Franklin Resources Inc. Has $176.74 Million Stock Position in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Franklin Resources Inc. reduced its position in shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,560,098 shares of the company’s stock after selling 31,751 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned about 0.63% of Veralto worth $176,739,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised its stake in shares of Veralto by 2.6% in the third quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 3,851 shares of the company’s stock valued at $431,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its position in Veralto by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 18,861 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,801,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Veralto by 1.4% in the third quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 7,338 shares of the company’s stock worth $821,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC grew its holdings in shares of Veralto by 4.5% during the third quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 2,394 shares of the company’s stock worth $268,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Insigneo Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Veralto by 1.8% during the third quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,767 shares of the company’s stock worth $645,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. 91.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Veralto

In related news, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 13,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.15, for a total transaction of $1,452,878.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 138,546 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,260,841.90. This trade represents a 8.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 753 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.55, for a total value of $84,750.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,256,620.75. The trade was a 6.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 14,695 shares of company stock valued at $1,615,017 over the last three months. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Veralto from $117.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Veralto in a research note on Thursday. They set a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Veralto from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Veralto from $119.00 to $117.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $109.50.

Veralto Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of Veralto stock opened at $104.22 on Friday. Veralto Co. has a 12 month low of $73.91 and a 12 month high of $115.00. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $107.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $105.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 2.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. The stock has a market cap of $25.77 billion, a PE ratio of 32.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.30 and a beta of 0.91.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last announced its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $1.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.30 billion. Veralto had a return on equity of 52.85% and a net margin of 15.69%. Veralto’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.75 EPS. Research analysts predict that Veralto Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current year.

Veralto Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 27th were issued a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 27th. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. Veralto’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.11%.

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.