JPMorgan Chase & Co. Boosts Holdings in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO - Free Report) by 14.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,448,648 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 314,412 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned approximately 0.99% of Veralto worth $273,906,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Veralto during the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Veralto during the second quarter worth about $26,000. Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Veralto in the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. boosted its position in shares of Veralto by 11,100.0% in the 2nd 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 period. Finally, Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its stake 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 buying an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.28% of the company's stock.

Veralto Price Performance

Shares of VLTO traded down $1.11 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $102.01. The company's stock had a trading volume of 528,594 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,512,865. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $104.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $105.59. Veralto Co. has a 1-year low of $73.91 and a 1-year high of $115.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.48, a P/E/G ratio of 4.30 and a beta of 0.91. 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 (NYSE:VLTO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $1.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.75 EPS. The business's revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Veralto Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Veralto Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. This is a boost from Veralto's previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. Veralto's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.58%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VLTO has been the subject of a number of research reports. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Veralto in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $125.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Veralto from $119.00 to $117.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Veralto from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Veralto from $117.00 to $119.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $109.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 752 shares of Veralto 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 directly owns 10,413 shares in the company, valued at $1,071,601.83. The trade was a 6.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.