13,487 Shares in Veralto Corporation (NYSE:VLTO) Purchased by Essex Investment Management Co. LLC

Key Points

• Essex Investment Management Co. LLC purchased 13,487 shares of Veralto Corporation (NYSE:VLTO), valued at approximately $1,314,000, during the 1st quarter.
• Veralto reported a quarterly earnings of $0.93 per share, surpassing analysts' expectations, with a revenue of $1.37 billion, reflecting a 6.4% year-over-year increase.
• The company's recent dividend is set at $0.11 per share, with an annualized yield of 0.42%, highlighting a low payout ratio of 12.57%.

Essex Investment Management Co. LLC bought a new position in Veralto Corporation (NYSE:VLTO - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 13,487 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,314,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. bought a new stake in shares of Veralto during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Veralto in the 1st quarter worth about $45,000. Grove Bank & Trust increased its position in shares of Veralto by 198.2% during the 1st quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 510 shares of the company's stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 339 shares during the last quarter. Global Financial Private Client LLC raised its holdings in shares of Veralto by 95.1% during the 1st quarter. Global Financial Private Client LLC now owns 593 shares of the company's stock valued at $58,000 after buying an additional 289 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Veralto during the 4th quarter valued at about $60,000. 91.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Veralto Price Performance

Shares of VLTO traded up $0.65 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $105.68. 2,071,364 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,129,546. The company has a current ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. Veralto Corporation has a 52-week low of $83.86 and a 52-week high of $115.00. The company's 50-day moving average price is $100.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $98.52. The company has a market cap of $26.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.91.

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

Veralto Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Veralto

In other news, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 848 shares of Veralto stock in a transaction on Monday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.55, for a total value of $85,266.40. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 8,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $847,938.15. This trade represents a 9.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Mattias Bystrom sold 2,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the senior vice president owned 32,430 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,241,702.80. This trade represents a 7.16% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 35,495 shares of company stock valued at $3,349,660 in the last ninety days. 0.36% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on VLTO shares. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Veralto from $106.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Veralto from $116.00 to $100.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Wolfe Research raised Veralto to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on Veralto from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Veralto from $116.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $112.44.

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.