Veralto Corporation (NYSE:VLTO) Short Interest Up 27,277.0% in July

Key Points

• Veralto Corporation's short interest surged by 27,277.0% in July, with a total of 3,340,000 shares sold short as of July 15th.
• Several brokerages recently updated their ratings on Veralto, with four analysts giving a buy rating, while the consensus rating is a "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $114.00.
• Veralto's latest earnings report indicated an EPS of $0.93, exceeding expectations, alongside a quarterly revenue of $1.37 billion, reflecting a 6.4% increase from the previous year.

Veralto Corporation (NYSE:VLTO - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totaling 3,340,000 shares, anincreaseof27,277.0% from the June 30th total of 12,200 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,250,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.7 days. Approximately1.4% of the company's stock are sold short. Approximately1.4% of the company's stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,250,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.7 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on VLTO. Northcoast Research started coverage on shares of Veralto in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $110.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus set a $120.00 price target on shares of Veralto and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Veralto from $116.00 to $100.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Veralto from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Veralto from $106.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $114.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 848 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.55, for a total value of $85,266.40. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 8,433 shares in the company, valued at $847,938.15. This represents a 9.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Lesley Beneteau sold 458 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.84, for a total transaction of $46,184.72. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 13,571 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,368,499.64. The trade was a 3.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 3,806 shares of company stock worth $381,351. Insiders own 0.36% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Veralto

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Baldwin Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Veralto by 3.4% during the first quarter. Baldwin Investment Management LLC now owns 3,219 shares of the company's stock worth $314,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Veralto by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,405 shares of the company's stock valued at $652,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Veralto by 1.3% during the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 8,784 shares of the company's stock valued at $856,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Phoenix Financial Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Veralto by 2.9% during the first quarter. Phoenix Financial Ltd. now owns 4,644 shares of the company's stock valued at $454,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Veralto by 3.6% during the first quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 3,883 shares of the company's stock valued at $378,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. 91.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Veralto Stock Down 0.2%

Veralto stock traded down $0.24 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $104.59. 1,297,928 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,406,637. The business has a fifty day moving average of $101.07 and a 200 day moving average of $98.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 2.32. The firm has a market cap of $25.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.22, a PEG ratio of 4.12 and a beta of 0.91. Veralto has a 12-month low of $83.86 and a 12-month high of $115.00.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.34 billion. Veralto had a return on equity of 41.45% and a net margin of 16.65%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.85 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Veralto will post 3.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Veralto Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th were given a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 30th. Veralto's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 12.29%.

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.

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