Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. Acquires 4,890 Shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. lifted its position in shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO - Free Report) by 50.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,594 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 4,890 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co.'s holdings in Veralto were worth $1,486,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Veralto during the third quarter worth $25,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Veralto by 692.3% during the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 309 shares of the company's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. Albion Financial Group UT increased its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 336 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Veralto in the fourth quarter valued at about $42,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Veralto by 140.1% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 437 shares of the company's stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 255 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.28% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 752 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.91, for a total transaction of $77,388.32. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 10,413 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,071,601.83. This represents a 6.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on VLTO. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Veralto from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Veralto from $117.00 to $116.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Veralto in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $125.00 target price for the company. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Veralto from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Veralto presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $113.18.

Veralto Stock Performance

Shares of VLTO stock traded up $1.03 during trading on Thursday, reaching $103.88. 881,455 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,316,745. Veralto Co. has a twelve month low of $75.05 and a twelve month high of $115.00. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $103.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $106.22. The company has a quick ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 2.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.69 billion, a PE ratio of 32.06, a PEG ratio of 4.31 and a beta of 1.06.

Veralto Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a positive change from Veralto's previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Veralto's dividend payout ratio is presently 13.58%.

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.