Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $125.61 Million Stock Holdings in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO - Free Report) by 207.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,122,898 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 757,389 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.45% of Veralto worth $125,608,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in VLTO. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Veralto in the first quarter valued at approximately $237,864,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Veralto by 6.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,429,158 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,431,869,000 after acquiring an additional 1,568,103 shares during the period. Capital International Investors boosted its position in shares of Veralto by 8.5% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,097,130 shares of the company's stock valued at $629,232,000 after acquiring an additional 553,021 shares during the period. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Veralto in the second quarter valued at approximately $39,343,000. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Veralto in the first quarter valued at approximately $23,394,000. 91.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Veralto

In other news, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 752 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.91, for a total value of $77,388.32. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 10,413 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,071,601.83. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Veralto news, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 752 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.91, for a total transaction of $77,388.32. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 10,413 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,071,601.83. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 13,191 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.98, for a total value of $1,477,128.18. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 138,546 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,514,381.08. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 36,038 shares of company stock valued at $3,989,693 in the last three months. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Veralto Price Performance

Shares of VLTO stock traded up $1.25 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $105.55. The company had a trading volume of 1,208,426 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,543,556. Veralto Co. has a 12 month low of $69.09 and a 12 month high of $115.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.10 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.58. The firm's fifty day moving average is $109.24 and its 200 day moving average is $103.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 2.13.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.30 billion. Veralto had a return on equity of 52.85% and a net margin of 15.69%. Veralto's revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.75 EPS. On average, sell-side 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 $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 27th. Veralto's payout ratio is currently 11.11%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on VLTO. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Veralto from $117.00 to $119.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Veralto from $98.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Veralto from $117.00 to $119.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Veralto from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Veralto from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock 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.