Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 2,074 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $232,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in VLTO. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Veralto by 6.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,429,158 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,431,869,000 after buying an additional 1,568,103 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its stake in Veralto by 8.5% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,097,130 shares of the company’s stock valued at $629,232,000 after acquiring an additional 553,021 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in Veralto by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,178,777 shares of the company’s stock worth $398,948,000 after acquiring an additional 200,657 shares during the period. Swedbank AB lifted its stake in Veralto by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,814,983 shares of the company’s stock worth $268,746,000 after purchasing an additional 132,105 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Veralto by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,492,720 shares of the company’s stock valued at $142,510,000 after purchasing an additional 24,246 shares during the period. 91.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Veralto

In other Veralto news, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 7,399 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.00, for a total transaction of $813,890.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 12,671 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,393,810. This represents a 36.87 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 13,191 shares of Veralto stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.98, for a total value of $1,477,128.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 138,546 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,514,381.08. This represents a 8.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 36,038 shares of company stock worth $3,989,693 in the last three months. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Veralto Stock Performance

Veralto stock opened at $102.68 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $108.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $104.06. Veralto Co. has a twelve month low of $70.06 and a twelve month high of $115.00. The company has a market capitalization of $25.39 billion and a PE ratio of 31.69. The company has a quick ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 2.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.30 billion. Veralto had a return on equity of 52.85% and a net margin of 15.69%. Veralto’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.75 EPS. Research analysts expect that Veralto Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current year.

Veralto Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Investors of record on Friday, September 27th were paid a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 27th. Veralto’s payout ratio is 11.11%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Veralto from $104.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Veralto from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Veralto in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $118.00 price objective on the stock. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Veralto from $98.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Veralto from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $108.27.

Veralto 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.