First Trust Advisors LP Boosts Stock Position in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO - Free Report) by 222.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,602,399 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 1,794,992 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned approximately 1.05% of Veralto worth $265,054,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Savant Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Veralto by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 20,177 shares of the company's stock worth $2,055,000 after buying an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake in shares of Veralto by 19.4% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 622 shares of the company's stock valued at $64,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC boosted its stake in Veralto by 17.3% in the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 699 shares of the company's stock valued at $71,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Veralto by 35.3% during the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 418 shares of the company's stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Veralto by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 4,111 shares of the company's stock valued at $419,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the period. 91.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Veralto news, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 590 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.05, for a total transaction of $57,259.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 10,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $971,567.55. This represents a 5.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 10,414 shares of Veralto stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.56, for a total transaction of $1,026,403.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 116,637 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,495,742.72. This represents a 8.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 22,471 shares of company stock valued at $2,234,030 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.36% of the company's stock.

Veralto Stock Performance

NYSE VLTO traded up $0.18 on Friday, reaching $91.92. The stock had a trading volume of 338,117 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,471,447. Veralto Co. has a 1-year low of $83.87 and a 1-year high of $115.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.69. The company has a market cap of $22.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.97. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $95.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $101.21.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.05. Veralto had a net margin of 16.04% and a return on equity of 49.29%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Veralto Co. will post 3.66 EPS for the current year.

Veralto Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Veralto's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.17%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Veralto from $116.00 to $100.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Veralto from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Veralto from $110.00 to $102.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $111.10.

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.