BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S Lowers Stock Position in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S lowered its stake in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO - Free Report) by 31.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,520 shares of the company's stock after selling 5,290 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S's holdings in Veralto were worth $1,173,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Veralto in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $289,028,000. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Veralto by 222.3% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,602,399 shares of the company's stock valued at $265,054,000 after acquiring an additional 1,794,992 shares during the period. Champlain Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Veralto during the 4th quarter worth $133,058,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Veralto by 34.6% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,923,747 shares of the company's stock worth $400,928,000 after purchasing an additional 1,009,170 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Veralto by 207.2% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,122,898 shares of the company's stock valued at $125,608,000 after purchasing an additional 757,389 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.28% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 10,414 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.56, for a total transaction of $1,026,403.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 116,637 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,495,742.72. This represents a 8.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 590 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.05, for a total transaction of $57,259.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 10,011 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $971,567.55. This represents a 5.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 22,471 shares of company stock valued at $2,234,030. Company insiders own 0.36% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on VLTO shares. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Veralto from $116.00 to $100.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Veralto from $110.00 to $102.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Veralto from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Veralto has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $111.10.

Veralto Price Performance

Veralto stock traded down $0.57 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $91.75. 218,381 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,470,243. 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 12-month low of $83.87 and a 12-month high of $115.00. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $95.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $100.91. The company has a market capitalization of $22.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.47, a PEG ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.97.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO - Get Free Report) last posted 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%. Analysts forecast that Veralto Co. will post 3.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Veralto Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. Veralto's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.