Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Barclays Analyst Says

Key Points

• Barclays raised Veralto’s price target to $129 from $117 while maintaining an “overweight” rating, implying 11.42% potential upside. Analysts overall assign the stock a “Moderate Buy” rating with a consensus target of $120.70.
• Veralto shares rose 4.2% to $115.78, near their 52-week high, after the company beat quarterly expectations with adjusted EPS of $1.18 versus $1.09 expected and revenue of $1.51 billion, up 7.5% year over year.
• Institutional investors own 91.28% of Veralto, while company insiders hold 0.43%; the CEO and a senior vice president recently sold shares through pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plans.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO - Get Free Report) had its price target raised by analysts at Barclays from $117.00 to $129.00 in a report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an "overweight" rating on the stock. Barclays's target price suggests a potential upside of 11.42% from the stock's current price.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on VLTO. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Veralto from $107.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Veralto in a report on Tuesday, September 15th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $125.00 price target for the company. Robert W. Baird set a $111.00 price objective on shares of Veralto in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Veralto from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, October 24th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $120.00 price objective (up from $115.00) on shares of Veralto in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Veralto presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $120.70.

Veralto Stock Up 4.2%

Shares of VLTO stock traded up $4.67 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $115.78. The company had a trading volume of 3,865,008 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,973,036. The company has a market capitalization of $28.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 1.78. Veralto has a twelve month low of $80.03 and a twelve month high of $116.71. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $98.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $93.13.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The company reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.09 by $0.09. Veralto had a return on equity of 35.54% and a net margin of 17.27%. The firm had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.50 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.99 EPS. Veralto's revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Veralto will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 986 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.05, for a total value of $95,691.30. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 8,565 shares of the company's stock, valued at $831,233.25. This represents a 10.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 7,098 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total transaction of $745,290.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 120,060 shares in the company, valued at $12,606,300. This represents a 5.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.43% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veralto

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC increased its holdings in Veralto by 36.3% in the third quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 15,475 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,460,000 after buying an additional 4,125 shares during the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC lifted its holdings in Veralto by 49.9% during the 3rd quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 5,113 shares of the company's stock worth $533,000 after buying an additional 1,701 shares during the last quarter. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Veralto by 9.2% in the 3rd quarter. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. now owns 43,876 shares of the company's stock worth $4,241,000 after acquiring an additional 3,708 shares in the last quarter. AIA Group Ltd grew its position in shares of Veralto by 119.1% in the 3rd quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 12,174 shares of the company's stock worth $1,148,000 after acquiring an additional 6,618 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Provenance Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Veralto by 997.4% in the 3rd quarter. Provenance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 428 shares of the company's stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 389 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.28% of the company's stock.

Veralto Company Profile

Veralto Corporation NYSE: VLTO is a global provider of technology, products and services that help customers manage water quality and improve the quality, safety and efficiency of packaged goods. The company serves municipal, industrial, commercial and consumer-facing markets through a portfolio of operating businesses.

Veralto's Water Quality segment provides instruments, software and services used to test, monitor and treat water and wastewater. Its brands include Hach, Trojan Technologies and ChemTreat, which support applications such as laboratory and field testing, disinfection, water treatment and industrial water management.

The company's Product Quality & Innovation segment supplies technologies used in product identification, packaging design, color management and quality inspection.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.