Meritage Portfolio Management Decreases Stock Holdings in Veralto Corporation (NYSE:VLTO)

Meritage Portfolio Management lessened its holdings in shares of Veralto Corporation (NYSE:VLTO - Free Report) by 2.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 147,939 shares of the company's stock after selling 3,449 shares during the period. Veralto makes up about 1.0% of Meritage Portfolio Management's portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Meritage Portfolio Management owned about 0.06% of Veralto worth $14,417,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. purchased a new position in Veralto in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in Veralto in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. purchased a new position in Veralto in the 4th quarter worth $43,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp purchased a new position in Veralto in the 4th quarter worth $44,000. Finally, Opal Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Veralto in the 1st quarter worth $45,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.28% of the company's stock.

Veralto Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:VLTO traded up $0.92 during trading on Friday, reaching $103.75. 478,650 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,411,486. Veralto Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $83.87 and a fifty-two week high of $115.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 2.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The firm has a market cap of $25.72 billion, a PE ratio of 28.50, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $99.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $98.48.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.08. Veralto had a return on equity of 45.63% and a net margin of 16.56%. The firm had revenue of $1.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.28 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.84 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Veralto Corporation will post 3.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Veralto Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 848 shares of Veralto stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.55, for a total value of $85,266.40. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 8,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $847,938.15. The trade was a 9.14% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Lesley Beneteau sold 458 shares of Veralto stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.84, for a total value of $46,184.72. Following the completion of 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 sold a total of 45,913 shares of company stock worth $4,339,370 in the last quarter. 0.36% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Veralto Company 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.