Jefferies Financial Group Initiates Coverage on Veralto (NYSE:VLTO)

Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) in a research note released on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued a buy rating and a $125.00 price target on the stock.

VLTO has been the topic of several other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Veralto from $119.00 to $117.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Veralto from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Veralto from $117.00 to $119.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Veralto presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $109.50.

Veralto Stock Performance

Shares of Veralto stock opened at $104.22 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 2.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $107.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $105.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.17, a P/E/G ratio of 4.30 and a beta of 0.91. Veralto has a 52 week low of $73.91 and a 52 week high of $115.00.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.04. Veralto had a return on equity of 52.85% and a net margin of 15.69%. The company had revenue of $1.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.75 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Veralto will post 3.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Veralto Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Investors of record on Friday, September 27th were paid a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 27th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. Veralto’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.11%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 753 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.55, for a total value of $84,750.15. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 11,165 shares in the company, valued at $1,256,620.75. This represents a 6.32 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 13,190 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.15, for a total value of $1,452,878.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 138,546 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,260,841.90. The trade was a 8.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 14,695 shares of company stock worth $1,615,017. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veralto

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VLTO. Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its stake in shares of Veralto by 12.7% during the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 54,633 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,111,000 after purchasing an additional 6,170 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Veralto by 12.5% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 16,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,849,000 after acquiring an additional 1,832 shares during the last quarter. Cim Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Veralto during the 3rd quarter worth about $469,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its position in Veralto by 48.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 28,583 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,197,000 after purchasing an additional 9,382 shares in the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Veralto during the third quarter valued at approximately $202,000. 91.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.