Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Has $1.34 Million Stock Position in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System reduced its position in shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 6.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 13,186 shares of the company’s stock after selling 924 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Veralto were worth $1,343,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Veralto by 9.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,599,499 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,074,654,000 after acquiring an additional 860,608 shares in the last quarter. Amundi grew its holdings in shares of Veralto by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 7,169,702 shares of the company’s stock valued at $731,084,000 after acquiring an additional 158,342 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Veralto by 10.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,868,620 shares of the company’s stock valued at $654,232,000 after acquiring an additional 558,393 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of Veralto by 34.6% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Veralto by 5.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,329,717 shares of the company’s stock valued at $372,462,000 after acquiring an additional 162,347 shares in the last quarter. 91.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Veralto in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Veralto from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Veralto from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Veralto from $116.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $113.50.

Veralto Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE:VLTO opened at $97.56 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $24.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.21, a P/E/G ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 1.11. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $99.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $104.40. Veralto Co. has a 1 year low of $85.91 and a 1 year 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.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) 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, analysts expect 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 given 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 0.45%. Veralto’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Melissa Aquino sold 463 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 owns 20,761 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,067,795.60. This trade represents a 2.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 590 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 11,467 shares of company stock worth $1,150,366. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

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.