Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) Shares Sold by Arthur M. Cohen & Associates LLC

Arthur M. Cohen & Associates LLC lowered its position in shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 2.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 49,243 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,299 shares during the period. Veralto comprises about 0.9% of Arthur M. Cohen & Associates LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest position. Arthur M. Cohen & Associates LLC’s holdings in Veralto were worth $4,799,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in VLTO. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Veralto during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $289,028,000. First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in Veralto by 222.3% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,602,399 shares of the company’s stock valued at $265,054,000 after acquiring an additional 1,794,992 shares during the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Veralto during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $133,058,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets purchased a new stake in Veralto during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $96,888,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Veralto by 12.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,601,676 shares of the company’s stock valued at $670,781,000 after acquiring an additional 733,056 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 590 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.05, for a total value of $57,259.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 10,011 shares in the company, valued at $971,567.55. This represents a 5.57% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Melissa Aquino sold 31,689 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.67, for a total value of $2,968,308.63. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 17,434 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,633,042.78. This represents a 64.51% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 56,917 shares of company stock worth $5,423,033 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Veralto Stock Performance

NYSE VLTO opened at $99.00 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.64, a PEG ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27. The business’s 50 day moving average is $95.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $99.45. Veralto Co. has a 12-month low of $83.87 and a 12-month high of $115.00.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 49.29% and a net margin of 16.04%. The company’s revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.84 EPS. Research analysts expect that Veralto Co. will post 3.66 EPS for the current year.

Veralto Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 31st. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be issued a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. Veralto’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.57%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on VLTO shares. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Veralto from $105.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Veralto from $103.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Northcoast Research initiated coverage on Veralto in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. They set a “buy” rating and a $110.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Veralto from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on Veralto from $116.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Veralto has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $110.09.

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.