Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys 7,021 Shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO - Free Report) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,129,919 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 7,021 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.46% of Veralto worth $115,082,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VLTO. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in Veralto by 34.6% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,923,747 shares of the company's stock valued at $400,928,000 after purchasing an additional 1,009,170 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Veralto by 9.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,599,499 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,074,654,000 after buying an additional 860,608 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Veralto by 10.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,868,620 shares of the company's stock worth $654,232,000 after buying an additional 558,393 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its stake in Veralto by 628.4% in the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 579,261 shares of the company's stock worth $58,998,000 after acquiring an additional 499,735 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Veralto by 29.0% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,864,038 shares of the company's stock valued at $208,511,000 after acquiring an additional 418,588 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.28% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Melissa Aquino sold 463 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.60, for a total value of $46,114.80. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,761 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,067,795.60. This trade represents a 2.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Veralto Trading Up 0.5 %

Veralto stock traded up $0.49 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $98.21. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,816,519 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,480,171. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $101.54 and a 200-day moving average price of $105.93. 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 Co. has a 12 month low of $85.70 and a 12 month high of $115.00. The stock has a market cap of $24.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 1.06.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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, analysts forecast that Veralto Co. will post 3.66 EPS for the current 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 issued a $0.11 dividend. This is a boost from Veralto's previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Veralto's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.17%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VLTO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Veralto from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Veralto in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $125.00 price target for the company. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Veralto from $116.00 to $110.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Veralto from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Six 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, Veralto currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $112.55.

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.