Champlain Investment Partners LLC Buys Shares of 1,306,410 Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Champlain Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 1,306,410 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $133,058,000. Champlain Investment Partners LLC owned approximately 0.53% of Veralto at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in VLTO. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of Veralto by 34.6% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,923,747 shares of the company's stock valued at $400,928,000 after buying an additional 1,009,170 shares during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of Veralto by 18.4% in the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 17,228 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,755,000 after purchasing an additional 2,676 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank lifted its position in shares of Veralto by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 53,622 shares of the company's stock worth $5,461,000 after purchasing an additional 3,284 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Veralto by 15.5% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 14,115 shares of the company's stock worth $1,438,000 after purchasing an additional 1,889 shares in the last quarter. Finally, David Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Veralto in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,013,000. 91.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Veralto Stock Performance

Veralto stock traded up $2.21 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $89.41. 503,038 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,485,255. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $95.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $101.50. The firm has a market cap of $22.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.79, a PEG ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.97. 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 Co. has a fifty-two week low of $83.87 and a fifty-two week high of $115.00.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.05. Veralto had a net margin of 16.04% and a return on equity of 49.29%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Veralto Co. will post 3.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Veralto Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Veralto's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.17%.

Insider Activity at Veralto

In related news, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 590 shares of Veralto stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 10,011 shares in the company, valued at $971,567.55. The trade was a 5.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 10,414 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.35, for a total value of $1,045,044.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 22,471 shares of company stock valued at $2,234,030 over the last 90 days. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on VLTO. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Veralto from $110.00 to $102.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Veralto from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Veralto from $116.00 to $100.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Veralto currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $111.10.

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.