Handelsbanken Fonder AB Raises Stock Holdings in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its stake in shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 57,300 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 900 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Veralto were worth $5,836,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Ieq Capital LLC raised its stake in Veralto by 115.4% in the fourth quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 10,770 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,097,000 after buying an additional 5,769 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its stake in Veralto by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 16,343 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,665,000 after buying an additional 1,061 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its stake in Veralto by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 4,579 shares of the company’s stock valued at $466,000 after buying an additional 229 shares during the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its stake in Veralto by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 259,925 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,473,000 after buying an additional 8,293 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schubert & Co raised its stake in Veralto by 52.1% in the fourth quarter. Schubert & Co now owns 16,642 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,695,000 after buying an additional 5,701 shares during the last quarter. 91.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Melissa Aquino sold 463 shares of Veralto 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 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. The trade was a 2.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on VLTO shares. Citigroup decreased their price target 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 price objective on Veralto from $116.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Veralto from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Veralto in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price objective on the stock. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $112.55.

Veralto Stock Performance

Shares of Veralto stock opened at $98.21 on Monday. Veralto Co. has a one year low of $85.70 and a one year high of $115.00. The company has a market cap of $24.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.41, a PEG ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 1.06. 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 business’s 50 day moving average price is $101.42 and its 200 day moving average price is $105.93.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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%. On average, research analysts predict that Veralto Co. will post 3.66 EPS for the current year.

Veralto Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This is a boost from Veralto’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Veralto’s payout ratio is presently 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.