HighTower Advisors LLC Raises Stock Position in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 94,081 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,609 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Veralto were worth $9,582,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of VLTO. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Veralto during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. BankPlus Trust Department purchased a new position in shares of Veralto during the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Albion Financial Group UT grew its position in shares of Veralto by 2,100.0% during the fourth quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 352 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 336 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Veralto during the fourth quarter valued at about $42,000. Finally, Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Veralto by 35.3% during the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 418 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

Veralto Stock Performance

Veralto stock opened at $98.42 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $100.22 and a 200-day moving average price of $104.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 1.92. Veralto Co. has a fifty-two week low of $85.91 and a fifty-two week high of $115.00. The company has a market capitalization of $24.36 billion, a PE ratio of 29.47, a P/E/G ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 1.11.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.05. Veralto had a net margin of 16.04% and a return on equity of 49.29%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Veralto Co. will post 3.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Veralto Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Veralto’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 590 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were 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 $849,964.50. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 10,414 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.35, for a total transaction of $1,045,044.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 104,496 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,486,173.60. This trade represents a 9.06 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 11,467 shares of company stock valued at $1,150,366 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Veralto in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price target for the company. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Veralto from $116.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Veralto from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Veralto from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $113.50.

Veralto 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.