Otter Creek Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Position in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Otter Creek Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 27.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 47,183 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,189 shares during the quarter. Veralto accounts for approximately 3.3% of Otter Creek Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Otter Creek Advisors LLC’s holdings in Veralto were worth $4,806,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VLTO. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Veralto during the 4th quarter worth $84,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Veralto by 13.0% during the 4th quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,955 shares of the company’s stock valued at $403,000 after purchasing an additional 455 shares during the period. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. raised its holdings in shares of Veralto by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. now owns 91,199 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,289,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares in the last quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Veralto by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 33,095 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,371,000 after purchasing an additional 283 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FFT Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Veralto in the 4th quarter worth approximately $273,000. 91.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VLTO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Veralto in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Veralto from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Veralto from $116.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Veralto from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $112.55.

Insider Activity at Veralto

In other news, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 10,414 shares of Veralto 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 $1,045,044.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 104,496 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,486,173.60. The trade was a 9.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 590 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was 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 $849,964.50. This trade represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 11,467 shares of company stock worth $1,150,366 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Veralto Stock Performance

Shares of VLTO opened at $99.70 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $101.25 and a two-hundred day moving average of $105.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 1.92. The stock has a market cap of $24.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.85, a P/E/G ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 1.06. Veralto Co. has a one year low of $85.70 and a one year high of $115.00.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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, research analysts predict that Veralto Co. will post 3.66 EPS for the current year.

Veralto Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This is a boost from Veralto’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. Veralto’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.17%.

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.