Mufg Securities Americas Inc. Takes Position in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Mufg Securities Americas Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 3,651 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $372,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of VLTO. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its stake in Veralto by 18.4% in the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 17,228 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,755,000 after acquiring an additional 2,676 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Veralto by 15.5% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 14,115 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,438,000 after buying an additional 1,889 shares during the period. David Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Veralto in the fourth quarter valued at $1,013,000. Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd increased its stake in Veralto by 497.8% in the fourth quarter. Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd now owns 314,180 shares of the company's stock valued at $31,978,000 after purchasing an additional 261,623 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers LLC increased its stake in Veralto by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers LLC now owns 57,558 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,862,000 after purchasing an additional 3,459 shares in the last quarter. 91.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Veralto Stock Performance

NYSE VLTO traded up $0.34 on Thursday, hitting $100.83. 285,564 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,470,653. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27. Veralto Co. has a 1-year low of $83.86 and a 1-year high of $115.00. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $94.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $99.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.99 billion, a PE ratio of 30.19, a P/E/G ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.99.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $1.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.28 billion. Veralto had a net margin of 16.04% and a return on equity of 49.29%. The business's revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.84 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Veralto Co. will post 3.66 EPS for the current year.

Veralto Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. Veralto's payout ratio is 12.57%.

Insider Activity

In other Veralto news, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 10,414 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.35, for a total value of $1,045,044.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 104,496 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,486,173.60. This represents a 9.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Lesley Beneteau sold 458 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.84, for a total transaction of $46,184.72. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,571 shares in the company, valued at $1,368,499.64. This represents a 3.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 67,073 shares of company stock valued at $6,442,018. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Veralto from $105.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Veralto from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Veralto from $116.00 to $100.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Northcoast Research initiated coverage on shares of Veralto in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $110.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Veralto from $103.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $110.09.

About Veralto

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.