Shell Asset Management Co. Raises Stake in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Shell Asset Management Co. lifted its stake in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 81.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,710 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 3,458 shares during the period. Shell Asset Management Co.’s holdings in Veralto were worth $785,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in shares of Veralto by 9.0% in the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,040,745 shares of the company’s stock worth $105,999,000 after buying an additional 85,505 shares during the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Veralto by 11.5% in the fourth quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 23,098 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,353,000 after acquiring an additional 2,379 shares during the last quarter. Raiffeisen Bank International AG bought a new stake in Veralto during the 4th quarter valued at about $382,000. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Veralto by 14.4% in the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 35,810 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,647,000 after acquiring an additional 4,507 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Veralto by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 50,078 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,101,000 after purchasing an additional 5,607 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VLTO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Veralto from $116.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Veralto from $103.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Northcoast Research began coverage on shares of Veralto in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $110.00 price target on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Veralto from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Veralto from $105.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $110.09.

Veralto Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of NYSE VLTO opened at $101.67 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.99. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $94.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $99.66. Veralto Co. has a 1-year low of $83.87 and a 1-year high of $115.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.69.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $1.33 billion during 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 firm’s revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.84 earnings per share. Equities research 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 will be paid on Thursday, July 31st. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. Veralto’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.57%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 590 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.35, for a total value of $59,206.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,470 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $849,964.50. This represents a 6.51% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Melissa Aquino sold 31,689 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.67, for a total value of $2,968,308.63. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 17,434 shares in the company, valued at $1,633,042.78. This trade represents a 64.51% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 67,073 shares of company stock valued at $6,442,018 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.36% 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.