MetLife Investment Management LLC Purchases 5,070 Shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO - Free Report) by 7.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 69,306 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 5,070 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC's holdings in Veralto were worth $7,753,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Veralto in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in Veralto during the second quarter worth about $26,000. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new position in Veralto during the second quarter worth about $30,000. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. increased its position in Veralto by 11,100.0% during the second quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 336 shares of the company's stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 333 shares during the period. Finally, Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Veralto by 692.3% during the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 309 shares of the company's stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 270 shares during the period. 91.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Veralto Price Performance

Shares of VLTO traded up $0.22 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $108.19. The company had a trading volume of 586,303 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,533,462. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $108.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $104.81. Veralto Co. has a 1-year low of $73.91 and a 1-year high of $115.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 2.13. The company has a market capitalization of $26.76 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.40.

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

Veralto Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Investors of record on Friday, September 27th were issued a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 27th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.33%. Veralto's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.11%.

Insider Activity at Veralto

In related news, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 752 shares of the firm's 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 10,413 shares in the company, valued at $1,071,601.83. This trade represents a 6.74 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 13,190 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 138,546 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,260,841.90. This trade represents a 8.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 15,448 shares of company stock worth $1,698,675 in the last quarter. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Veralto from $117.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Veralto in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $118.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Veralto from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Veralto from $117.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target 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.