Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. Grows Position in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. boosted its position in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 3.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 272,904 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,885 shares during the quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. owned approximately 0.11% of Veralto worth $27,795,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of VLTO. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in Veralto by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 13,475 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,507,000 after acquiring an additional 560 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Veralto by 34.3% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 66,482 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,437,000 after purchasing an additional 16,977 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Veralto by 562.3% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 755 shares of the company’s stock worth $84,000 after purchasing an additional 641 shares in the last quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of Veralto by 15.5% in the 3rd quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 2,051 shares of the company’s stock worth $229,000 after buying an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its position in Veralto by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 3,851 shares of the company’s stock valued at $431,000 after buying an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have 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 report on Monday, January 13th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Veralto from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Veralto from $116.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Veralto in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price target on the stock. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $113.50.

Veralto Price Performance

NYSE VLTO opened at $98.05 on Friday. 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 Co. has a 1-year low of $85.91 and a 1-year high of $115.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.35, a PEG ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 1.11. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $99.62 and its 200-day moving average price is $104.11.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last announced 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%. On average, equities analysts predict that Veralto Co. will post 3.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Veralto Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. Veralto’s payout ratio is presently 13.17%.

Insider Transactions at Veralto

In other Veralto news, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 590 shares of the company’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 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 $849,964.50. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction of $46,114.80. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,761 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,067,795.60. This trade represents a 2.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 21,881 shares of company stock worth $2,176,770 in the last 90 days. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.