Veralto Corporation (NYSE:VLTO) Shares Purchased by Eastern Bank

Key Points

• Eastern Bank increased its stake in Veralto Corporation by 91.3%, acquiring an additional 72,902 shares during the first quarter, bringing its total to 152,718 shares valued at approximately $14.88 million.
• Veralto has received multiple upgrades from analysts, with Royal Bank of Canada raising its target price from $104.00 to $108.00, while Wolfe Research upgraded the stock to an "outperform" rating.
• Insiders have sold a total of 35,495 shares of Veralto stock valued at $3.35 million in the last three months, marking a 7.16% decrease in ownership for one senior vice president following a recent sale.

Eastern Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Veralto Corporation (NYSE:VLTO - Free Report) by 91.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 152,718 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 72,902 shares during the quarter. Eastern Bank owned about 0.06% of Veralto worth $14,882,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VLTO. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,794,992 shares in the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in Veralto during the 4th quarter worth about $133,058,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets acquired a new position in Veralto during the 4th quarter worth about $96,888,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Veralto by 12.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,601,676 shares of the company's stock worth $670,781,000 after acquiring an additional 733,056 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Veralto during the 4th quarter worth about $51,986,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.28% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Veralto

In other Veralto news, SVP Mattias Bystrom sold 2,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.96, for a total transaction of $249,900.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 32,430 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,241,702.80. The trade was a 7.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Lesley Beneteau sold 458 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.84, for a total value of $46,184.72. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 13,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,368,499.64. The trade was a 3.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 35,495 shares of company stock valued at $3,349,660 in the last three months. 0.36% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VLTO has been the topic of several research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on Veralto from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Wolfe Research raised Veralto to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup cut their price objective on Veralto from $116.00 to $100.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Northcoast Research assumed coverage on Veralto in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $110.00 target price for the company. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Veralto from $106.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $112.44.

Veralto Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of Veralto stock traded up $0.65 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $105.68. 2,071,364 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,129,546. The stock has a market cap of $26.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.91. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $100.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $98.52. Veralto Corporation has a 12-month low of $83.86 and a 12-month high of $115.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 2.32 and a quick ratio of 1.92.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 28th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.34 billion. Veralto had a net margin of 16.65% and a return on equity of 41.45%. Veralto's quarterly revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.85 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Veralto Corporation will post 3.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Veralto Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. Veralto's payout ratio is 12.57%.

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.