First Trust Advisors LP Has $265.05 Million Holdings in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO - Free Report) by 222.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,602,399 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,794,992 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 1.05% of Veralto worth $265,054,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Savant Capital LLC boosted its position in Veralto by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 20,177 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,055,000 after buying an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its holdings in shares of Veralto by 19.4% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 622 shares of the company's stock worth $64,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC grew its position in Veralto by 17.3% during the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 699 shares of the company's stock worth $71,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Veralto by 35.3% during the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 418 shares of the company's stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC increased its holdings in Veralto by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 4,111 shares of the company's stock valued at $419,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.28% of the company's stock.

Veralto Trading Up 1.3 %

VLTO traded up $1.17 during trading on Thursday, reaching $91.72. 1,455,626 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,483,394. The company's fifty day moving average price is $95.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $101.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.75 billion, a PE ratio of 27.46, a P/E/G ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.97. Veralto Co. has a fifty-two week low of $83.87 and a fifty-two week high of $115.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 1.92.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO - Get Free Report) last posted its 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 return on equity of 49.29% and a net margin of 16.04%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Veralto Co. will post 3.66 EPS for the current year.

Veralto Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Veralto's payout ratio is presently 13.17%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Veralto news, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 590 shares of the firm'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 transaction of $59,206.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,470 shares in the company, valued at approximately $849,964.50. This trade represents a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 10,414 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.35, for a total transaction of $1,045,044.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 104,496 shares in the company, valued at $10,486,173.60. This represents a 9.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 22,471 shares of company stock worth $2,234,030. Corporate insiders own 0.36% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VLTO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Veralto from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Veralto from $110.00 to $102.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Veralto from $116.00 to $100.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Veralto presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $111.10.

Veralto Company 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.