Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) Reaches New 1-Year Low - Here's Why

Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO - Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $84.00 and last traded at $85.14, with a volume of 148106 shares. The stock had previously closed at $88.82.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on VLTO. Citigroup dropped their target price on Veralto from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Veralto from $116.00 to $110.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Veralto from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Veralto presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $113.50.

Veralto Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $22.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.85, a P/E/G ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.97. The firm's 50-day moving average is $96.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $102.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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, sell-side analysts expect that Veralto Co. will post 3.66 earnings per share 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. Veralto's dividend payout ratio is presently 13.17%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Veralto news, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 590 shares of Veralto stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.35, for a total transaction of $59,206.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,470 shares of the company's stock, valued at $849,964.50. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Melissa Aquino sold 463 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.60, for a total value of $46,114.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,761 shares in the company, valued at $2,067,795.60. This represents a 2.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 22,471 shares of company stock valued at $2,234,030 in the last ninety days. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Veralto

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Savant Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 grew its holdings in shares of Veralto by 19.4% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 622 shares of the company's stock valued at $64,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC increased its stake 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 buying an additional 103 shares during the period. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Veralto by 35.3% in the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 418 shares of the company's stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the period. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Veralto by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,405 shares of the company's stock valued at $652,000 after buying an additional 110 shares during the period. 91.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.