FIL Ltd Buys 57,304 Shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

FIL Ltd grew its position in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO - Free Report) by 16.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 414,287 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 57,304 shares during the period. FIL Ltd owned about 0.17% of Veralto worth $42,195,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Veralto in the 4th quarter valued at about $289,028,000. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of Veralto by 34.6% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Veralto by 207.2% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,122,898 shares of the company's stock worth $125,608,000 after purchasing an additional 757,389 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Veralto by 12.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,601,676 shares of the company's stock valued at $670,781,000 after purchasing an additional 733,056 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Veralto during the fourth quarter worth about $51,986,000. Institutional investors own 91.28% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 10,414 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.56, for a total value of $1,026,403.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 116,637 shares in the company, valued at $11,495,742.72. This represents a 8.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 590 shares of Veralto stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.35, for a total value of $59,206.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,470 shares in the company, valued at approximately $849,964.50. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 22,471 shares of company stock worth $2,234,030 in the last three months. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Veralto Price Performance

Veralto stock traded up $0.09 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $90.15. 512,728 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,507,932. The firm has a market cap of $22.36 billion, a PE ratio of 26.99, a PEG ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.97. Veralto Co. has a 12 month low of $83.87 and a 12 month high of $115.00. 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 has a fifty day simple moving average of $96.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $102.19.

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%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Veralto Co. will post 3.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Veralto Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Veralto's payout ratio is currently 13.17%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on VLTO. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Veralto from $116.00 to $100.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Veralto from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Veralto from $110.00 to $102.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Veralto presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $111.10.

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.