Prudential Financial Inc. Acquires 95,386 Shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO - Free Report) by 12.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 875,050 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 95,386 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.35% of Veralto worth $89,124,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. PEAK6 Investments LLC lifted its stake in Veralto by 246.3% during the third quarter. PEAK6 Investments LLC now owns 8,733 shares of the company's stock valued at $977,000 after buying an additional 6,211 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of Veralto by 34.6% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,923,747 shares of the company's stock valued at $400,928,000 after acquiring an additional 1,009,170 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its position in shares of Veralto by 18.4% in the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 17,228 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,755,000 after acquiring an additional 2,676 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in Veralto by 10.2% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 163,227 shares of the company's stock worth $18,259,000 after purchasing an additional 15,048 shares during the period. Finally, Czech National Bank grew its position in Veralto by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 53,622 shares of the company's stock worth $5,461,000 after purchasing an additional 3,284 shares in the last quarter. 91.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VLTO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Veralto in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $125.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Veralto from $116.00 to $110.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup lowered their target price on Veralto from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Veralto from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $113.50.

Veralto Stock Down 2.0 %

VLTO stock traded down $1.92 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $95.97. The company's stock had a trading volume of 834,861 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,499,859. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $99.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $103.97. Veralto Co. has a 12 month low of $85.91 and a 12 month high of $115.00. The company has a market capitalization of $23.76 billion, a PE ratio of 28.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a quick ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Veralto Co. will post 3.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Veralto Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. Veralto's payout ratio is 13.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Veralto

In other news, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 10,414 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.56, for a total transaction of $1,026,403.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 116,637 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,495,742.72. The trade was a 8.20 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 590 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.35, for a total transaction of $59,206.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,470 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $849,964.50. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 21,881 shares of company stock valued at $2,176,770 in the last 90 days. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by 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.