Geode Capital Management LLC Buys 558,393 Shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO - Free Report) by 10.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,868,620 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 558,393 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC owned 2.37% of Veralto worth $654,232,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of VLTO. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Veralto by 2.6% during the third quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 3,851 shares of the company's stock valued at $431,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund increased its position in Veralto by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 18,861 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,801,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Veralto by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 7,338 shares of the company's stock worth $821,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Strategic Blueprint LLC boosted its holdings in Veralto by 4.5% in the third quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 2,394 shares of the company's stock worth $268,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Insigneo Advisory Services LLC grew 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 institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on VLTO. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Veralto from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Veralto in a report on Thursday. They set a "buy" rating and a $125.00 price objective on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Veralto from $119.00 to $117.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Veralto from $117.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Veralto currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $109.50.

Veralto Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE VLTO traded down $1.57 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $104.22. The company's stock had a trading volume of 753,166 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,510,680. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.17, a PEG ratio of 4.35 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 2.13 and a quick ratio of 1.87. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $107.18 and a 200-day moving average price of $105.25. Veralto Co. has a 12-month low of $73.91 and a 12-month high of $115.00.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.89 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $1.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.75 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict 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. Investors of record on Friday, September 27th were given a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 27th. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. Veralto's payout ratio is currently 11.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Veralto news, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 752 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.91, for a total transaction of $77,388.32. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 10,413 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,071,601.83. This represents a 6.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 13,190 shares of Veralto stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.15, for a total transaction of $1,452,878.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 138,546 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,260,841.90. The trade was a 8.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 14,695 shares of company stock worth $1,615,017. Insiders own 0.31% of the company's stock.

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.