Franklin Resources Inc. Has $176.74 Million Position in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Franklin Resources Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO - Free Report) by 2.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,560,098 shares of the company's stock after selling 31,751 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned 0.63% of Veralto worth $176,739,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of VLTO. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its stake in Veralto by 2.6% in the third quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 3,851 shares of the company's stock worth $431,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund boosted its stake in Veralto by 0.5% in the second quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 18,861 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,801,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Veralto by 1.4% in the third quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 7,338 shares of the company's stock valued at $821,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Strategic Blueprint LLC boosted its stake in Veralto by 4.5% in the third quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 2,394 shares of the company's stock valued at $268,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares during the period. Finally, Insigneo Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Veralto by 1.8% in the third quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,767 shares of the company's stock valued at $645,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the period. 91.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Veralto Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VLTO traded down $1.57 during trading on Friday, hitting $104.22. The company had a trading volume of 756,295 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,199,955. The company has a market cap of $25.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.17, a PEG ratio of 4.30 and a beta of 0.91. Veralto Co. has a 52 week low of $73.91 and a 52 week high of $115.00. The business's 50-day moving average is $107.02 and its 200 day moving average is $105.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 2.13.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.30 billion. Veralto had a return on equity of 52.85% and a net margin of 15.69%. The firm's revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.75 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Veralto Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Veralto Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VLTO has been the subject of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Veralto from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Veralto in a report on Thursday. They set a "buy" rating and a $125.00 price target on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Veralto from $117.00 to $119.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Veralto from $119.00 to $117.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $109.50.

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.