Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co Takes $2.44 Million Position in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co purchased a new position in shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 24,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,444,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its stake in Veralto by 119.6% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 10,834 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,212,000 after purchasing an additional 5,900 shares in the last quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its position in Veralto by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 128,677 shares of the company's stock worth $14,394,000 after acquiring an additional 10,390 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its stake in Veralto by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 44,471 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,975,000 after purchasing an additional 3,071 shares during the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Veralto in the third quarter valued at about $576,000. Finally, State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Veralto by 9.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,599,499 shares of the company's stock worth $1,074,654,000 after purchasing an additional 860,608 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.28% of the company's stock.

Veralto Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of VLTO stock traded up $0.34 during trading on Friday, hitting $89.04. 570,511 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,508,843. Veralto Co. has a 52-week low of $83.87 and a 52-week high of $115.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.97. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $96.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $102.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.69.

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

Veralto Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Veralto

In other Veralto news, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 590 shares of Veralto stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.35, for a total transaction of $59,206.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,470 shares of the company's stock, valued at $849,964.50. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 10,414 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.35, for a total value of $1,045,044.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 104,496 shares in the company, 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 22,471 shares of company stock valued at $2,234,030. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on VLTO shares. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Veralto in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $125.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Veralto from $116.00 to $110.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Veralto from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Veralto from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Veralto presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $113.50.

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.