Otter Creek Advisors LLC Grows Stock Position in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Otter Creek Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO - Free Report) by 57.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 36,994 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 13,555 shares during the period. Veralto makes up about 2.7% of Otter Creek Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Otter Creek Advisors LLC's holdings in Veralto were worth $4,138,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Veralto in the 1st quarter valued at about $237,864,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Veralto by 207.2% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,122,898 shares of the company's stock valued at $125,608,000 after acquiring an additional 757,389 shares during the period. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Veralto during the second quarter valued at approximately $39,343,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Veralto during the first quarter worth approximately $23,394,000. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in Veralto in the 2nd quarter valued at $24,618,000. 91.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 13,191 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.98, for a total transaction of $1,477,128.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 138,546 shares in the company, valued at $15,514,381.08. This trade represents a 8.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 753 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.55, for a total transaction of $84,750.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 11,165 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,256,620.75. This represents a 6.32 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 28,639 shares of company stock worth $3,175,803 in the last three months. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on VLTO shares. UBS Group assumed coverage on Veralto in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $118.00 price target for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Veralto from $104.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Veralto from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Veralto from $117.00 to $119.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Veralto from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $108.27.

Veralto Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE VLTO traded up $0.90 on Friday, hitting $106.91. The company's stock had a trading volume of 477,664 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,525,612. The firm has a market cap of $26.44 billion and a P/E ratio of 32.64. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $108.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $104.33. Veralto Co. has a 52-week low of $72.23 and a 52-week high of $115.00. The company has a current ratio of 2.13, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO - Get Free Report) last announced its 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 firm had revenue of $1.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.75 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Veralto Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Veralto Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 27th were issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 27th. Veralto's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.11%.

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.