Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) Short Interest Up 20.4% in February

Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO - Get Free Report) saw a significant growth in short interest in February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,890,000 shares, a growth of 20.4% from the January 31st total of 4,060,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,420,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.4 days. Approximately 2.1% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on VLTO. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Veralto from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Veralto from $116.00 to $110.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Veralto from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Veralto in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $125.00 price objective for the company. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $112.55.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Melissa Aquino sold 463 shares of Veralto 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,067,795.60. The trade was a 2.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 10,414 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.35, for a total value of $1,045,044.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 104,496 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,486,173.60. This trade represents a 9.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 11,467 shares of company stock worth $1,150,366. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veralto

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of VLTO. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Veralto in the third quarter valued at $25,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new stake in Veralto in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in Veralto during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. BankPlus Trust Department acquired a new position in Veralto during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Albion Financial Group UT raised its position in shares of 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 during the last quarter. 91.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Veralto Stock Performance

Shares of VLTO stock traded up $2.21 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $100.16. The company had a trading volume of 1,444,812 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,460,914. The stock has a market cap of $24.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.99, a PEG ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.69. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $100.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $105.34. Veralto has a 52-week low of $85.90 and a 52-week high of $115.00.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.05. Veralto had a net margin of 16.04% and a return on equity of 49.29%. Research analysts anticipate that Veralto will post 3.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Veralto Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. Veralto's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.17%.

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.