Royal Bank of Canada Grows Position in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Royal Bank of Canada boosted its stake in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO - Free Report) by 9.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,040,745 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 85,505 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada owned 0.42% of Veralto worth $105,999,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Veralto by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,347,185 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,989,011,000 after acquiring an additional 146,234 shares during the last quarter. Amundi boosted its holdings in Veralto by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 7,169,702 shares of the company's stock valued at $731,084,000 after acquiring an additional 158,342 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Veralto by 12.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,601,676 shares of the company's stock valued at $670,781,000 after acquiring an additional 733,056 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its holdings in Veralto by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 4,764,889 shares of the company's stock valued at $485,304,000 after acquiring an additional 54,795 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Veralto by 9.7% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,541,367 shares of the company's stock valued at $462,538,000 after acquiring an additional 401,228 shares during the last quarter. 91.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VLTO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Veralto from $105.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Veralto from $103.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Northcoast Research assumed coverage on Veralto in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. They set a "buy" rating and a $110.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup cut their price target on Veralto from $116.00 to $100.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Veralto from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $110.09.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Melissa Aquino sold 31,689 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.67, for a total value of $2,968,308.63. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 17,434 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,633,042.78. This represents a 64.51% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 590 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.35, for a total value of $59,206.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,470 shares of the company's stock, valued at $849,964.50. The trade was a 6.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 67,073 shares of company stock worth $6,442,018 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.36% of the company's stock.

Veralto Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of VLTO traded up $0.43 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $100.92. The stock had a trading volume of 1,096,015 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,479,603. Veralto Co. has a 12 month low of $83.87 and a 12 month high of $115.00. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $94.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $99.67. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27. The company has a market capitalization of $25.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.22, a P/E/G ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.99.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.08. Veralto had a return on equity of 49.29% and a net margin of 16.04%. The company had revenue of $1.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.28 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.84 EPS. Veralto's quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict 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 Thursday, July 31st. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be issued a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. Veralto's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.