Rafferty Asset Management LLC Increases Stock Position in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Rafferty Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 11.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,098 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,379 shares during the quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Veralto were worth $2,353,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. purchased a new stake in shares of Veralto during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Veralto in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. BankPlus Trust Department bought a new position in shares of Veralto in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Albion Financial Group UT lifted its stake in shares of Veralto by 2,100.0% in the 4th quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 352 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 336 shares during the period. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Veralto in the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on VLTO shares. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of 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 initiated coverage on shares of Veralto in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $110.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup cut their price target on Veralto from $116.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Veralto from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Veralto from $105.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $110.09.

Veralto Price Performance

NYSE VLTO opened at $102.11 on Tuesday. Veralto Co. has a 12 month low of $83.87 and a 12 month high of $115.00. The stock has a market cap of $25.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.57, a PEG ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.99. The company’s 50 day moving average is $94.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $99.65. 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 released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.08. The company 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 was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.84 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Veralto Co. will post 3.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Veralto Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. Veralto’s payout ratio is currently 12.57%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Melissa Aquino sold 31,689 shares of Veralto stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were 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 owns 17,434 shares in the company, valued at $1,633,042.78. This trade represents a 64.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 10,414 shares of Veralto stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.35, for a total transaction of $1,045,044.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 104,496 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,486,173.60. The trade was a 9.06% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 67,073 shares of company stock worth $6,442,018 over the last quarter. 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.