BNP Paribas Financial Markets Invests $96.89 Million in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets acquired a new position in shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 951,282 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $96,888,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets owned approximately 0.38% of Veralto at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Veralto by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,347,185 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,989,011,000 after acquiring an additional 146,234 shares during the last quarter. Amundi grew its holdings in shares of Veralto by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 7,169,702 shares of the company’s stock worth $731,084,000 after purchasing an additional 158,342 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Veralto by 12.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,601,676 shares of the company’s stock valued at $670,781,000 after buying an additional 733,056 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its position in Veralto by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 4,764,889 shares of the company’s stock worth $485,304,000 after buying an additional 54,795 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Veralto by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,541,367 shares of the company’s stock worth $462,538,000 after acquiring an additional 401,228 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

Veralto Stock Performance

VLTO opened at $95.69 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $23.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.65, a PEG ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.99. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $94.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $100.13. Veralto Co. has a 1-year low of $83.87 and a 1-year high of $115.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $1.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.28 billion. Veralto had a net margin of 16.04% and a return on equity of 49.29%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.84 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Veralto Co. will post 3.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Veralto Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. Veralto’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.57%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VLTO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Veralto from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Veralto from $103.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup decreased their price target on Veralto from $116.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Veralto from $105.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $110.10.

Insider Activity at Veralto

In other news, SVP Melissa Aquino sold 31,689 shares of Veralto stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.67, for a total transaction of $2,968,308.63. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 17,434 shares in the company, valued at $1,633,042.78. The trade was a 64.51 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 10,418 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total transaction of $989,710.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,219 shares in the company, valued at $10,090,805. This trade represents a 8.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 64,578 shares of company stock valued at $6,192,048 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

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.