Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Purchases 8,379 Shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO - Free Report) by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 420,482 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 8,379 shares during the quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. owned approximately 0.17% of Veralto worth $47,035,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Veralto during the first quarter valued at approximately $237,864,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Veralto by 6.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,429,158 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,431,869,000 after acquiring an additional 1,568,103 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Veralto by 207.2% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,122,898 shares of the company's stock worth $125,608,000 after acquiring an additional 757,389 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in shares of Veralto by 8.5% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,097,130 shares of the company's stock valued at $629,232,000 after purchasing an additional 553,021 shares during the period. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Veralto during the first quarter valued at $23,394,000. 91.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Veralto Trading Down 1.7 %

VLTO stock traded down $1.73 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $103.11. 1,278,374 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,535,203. Veralto Co. has a 52-week low of $70.06 and a 52-week high of $115.00. The stock's fifty day moving average is $108.83 and its 200-day moving average is $104.01. The company has a market cap of $25.50 billion and a P/E ratio of 32.35. The company has a current ratio of 2.13, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.75 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Veralto Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Veralto Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 27th were issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 27th. Veralto's dividend payout ratio is currently 11.11%.

Insider Transactions at Veralto

In other Veralto news, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 752 shares of Veralto stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.91, for a total value of $77,388.32. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 10,413 shares in the company, valued at $1,071,601.83. The trade was a 6.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 13,191 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.98, for a total transaction of $1,477,128.18. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 138,546 shares in the company, valued at $15,514,381.08. This represents a 8.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 36,038 shares of company stock valued at $3,989,693. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on VLTO. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Veralto from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Veralto from $104.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Veralto from $117.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. UBS Group initiated coverage on Veralto in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $118.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Veralto from $98.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $108.27.

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.