National Pension Service Sells 156,680 Shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

National Pension Service decreased its stake in shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO - Free Report) by 32.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 326,923 shares of the company's stock after selling 156,680 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service owned 0.13% of Veralto worth $33,297,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in Veralto in the third quarter worth $25,000. BankPlus Trust Department acquired a new position in shares of Veralto in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Albion Financial Group UT lifted its holdings in shares of Veralto by 2,100.0% during the 4th quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 352 shares of the company's stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 336 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Veralto during the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000. Finally, Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new stake in Veralto in the third quarter valued at about $46,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.28% of the company's stock.

Veralto Price Performance

Shares of Veralto stock traded up $0.01 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $99.88. The company's stock had a trading volume of 688,485 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,454,066. Veralto Co. has a one year low of $85.90 and a one year high of $115.00. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $101.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $105.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 1.11.

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

Veralto Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. This is an increase from Veralto's previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. Veralto's payout ratio is presently 13.17%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on VLTO shares. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Veralto from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Veralto from $116.00 to $110.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Veralto in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They set a "buy" rating and a $125.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Veralto from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Six investment 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, Veralto has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $112.55.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 10,414 shares of Veralto stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.35, for a total transaction of $1,045,044.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 104,496 shares in the company, valued at $10,486,173.60. The trade was a 9.06 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Melissa Aquino sold 463 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.60, for a total transaction of $46,114.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,761 shares in the company, valued at $2,067,795.60. This represents a 2.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 11,467 shares of company stock valued at $1,150,366 over the last 90 days. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Veralto Company 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.