Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) Short Interest Up 23.0% in April

Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO - Get Free Report) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,800,000 shares, a growth of 23.0% from the March 31st total of 3,090,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,560,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.4 days. Currently, 1.6% of the company's shares are short sold.

Veralto Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE VLTO traded down $0.24 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $95.45. 1,157,343 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,482,618. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.99. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $94.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $100.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.69. Veralto has a 52 week low of $83.87 and a 52 week high of $115.00.

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, 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 business had revenue of $1.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.28 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.84 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Veralto will post 3.66 EPS for the current year.

Veralto Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. Veralto's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.57%.

Insider Activity

In other Veralto news, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 10,414 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.35, for a total transaction of $1,045,044.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 104,496 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,486,173.60. This represents a 9.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 590 shares of Veralto stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.35, for a total transaction of $59,206.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,470 shares of the company's stock, valued at $849,964.50. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 64,578 shares of company stock valued at $6,192,048 over the last quarter. 0.36% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VLTO. Barclays PLC grew its position in Veralto by 43.8% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 729,081 shares of the company's stock worth $81,556,000 after buying an additional 222,076 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Veralto in the third quarter worth approximately $202,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its stake in Veralto by 48.9% in the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 28,583 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,197,000 after purchasing an additional 9,382 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its position in Veralto by 12.5% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 16,534 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,849,000 after purchasing an additional 1,832 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its stake in Veralto by 12.7% in the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 54,633 shares of the company's stock worth $6,111,000 after buying an additional 6,170 shares in the last quarter. 91.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on VLTO shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Veralto from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup dropped their price target on Veralto from $116.00 to $100.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Royal Bank of Canada raised 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. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Veralto from $105.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Northcoast Research started coverage on shares of Veralto in a research report on Tuesday. They issued a "buy" rating and a $110.00 price target for the company. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Veralto currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $110.09.

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.