Fred Alger Management LLC Lowers Stock Position in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Fred Alger Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO - Free Report) by 82.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 7,258 shares of the company's stock after selling 34,047 shares during the quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC's holdings in Veralto were worth $740,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in VLTO. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new position in shares of Veralto during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Veralto in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. BankPlus Trust Department acquired a new position in shares of Veralto in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Albion Financial Group UT boosted its holdings in shares of Veralto by 2,100.0% in the fourth quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 352 shares of the company's stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 336 shares during the period. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Veralto in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. 91.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insider Transactions at Veralto

In other news, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 10,414 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.35, for a total value of $1,045,044.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 104,496 shares in the company, valued at $10,486,173.60. This represents a 9.06% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Mattias Bystrom sold 2,500 shares of the company'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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 32,430 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,241,702.80. The trade was a 7.16% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 66,615 shares of company stock worth $6,395,833 in the last quarter. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Veralto Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of NYSE VLTO traded up $0.72 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $101.65. The stock had a trading volume of 208,491 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,479,516. The firm has a market cap of $25.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.99. Veralto Co. has a twelve month low of $83.87 and a twelve month high of $115.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 1.92. The company's 50 day moving average price is $94.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $99.70.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $1.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.28 billion. Veralto had a net margin of 16.04% and a return on equity of 49.29%. Veralto's quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.84 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Veralto Co. will post 3.66 EPS for the current year.

Veralto Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. Veralto's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.57%.

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.