Brokerages Set Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) Target Price at $109.50

Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO - Get Free Report) has received an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the twelve research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $109.50.

A number of analysts have commented on VLTO shares. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Veralto from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Veralto in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They set a "buy" rating and a $125.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Veralto from $119.00 to $117.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Veralto from $117.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th.

Veralto Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of VLTO traded up $0.21 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $100.80. 903,031 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,109,115. 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 has a 1-year low of $73.91 and a 1-year high of $115.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.93 billion, a PE ratio of 31.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.30 and a beta of 0.91. The business has a fifty day moving average of $104.35 and a 200-day moving average of $105.53.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $1.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.75 EPS. The company's revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Veralto will post 3.48 EPS for the current year.

Veralto Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a boost from Veralto's previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. Veralto's payout ratio is 13.58%.

Insider Transactions at Veralto

In related news, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 752 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.91, for a total value of $77,388.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 10,413 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,071,601.83. This trade represents a 6.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Veralto

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Veralto in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in Veralto during the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new position in Veralto during the second quarter worth $30,000. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Veralto by 11,100.0% in the second quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 336 shares of the company's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 333 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Veralto by 692.3% in the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 309 shares of the company's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.28% of the company's stock.

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.