Veralto Corporation (NYSE:VLTO) Short Interest Update

Key Points

• Short interest rose 20.1% in March to 4,453,255 shares, equal to 1.8% of shares sold short and a days-to-cover of 1.9 based on average daily volume of ~2.31M shares.
• Veralto beat quarterly EPS ($1.04 vs. $0.98) and issued FY2026 guidance of $4.10–$4.20 EPS (Q1: $0.97–$1.01); analysts hold a consensus "Moderate Buy" with a $107.56 target.
• Institutional investors own 91.28% of the stock; the company trades around $91 with a $22.36B market cap, a P/E of ~24.3, and a quarterly dividend of $0.13 (0.6% yield).

Veralto Corporation (NYSE:VLTO - Get Free Report) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 4,453,255 shares, an increase of 20.1% from the March 15th total of 3,706,890 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,312,845 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.9 days. Currently, 1.8% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Veralto

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VLTO. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in shares of Veralto by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,459 shares of the company's stock worth $352,000 after acquiring an additional 479 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Veralto by 5.3% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 25,947 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,529,000 after acquiring an additional 1,306 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in shares of Veralto by 20.4% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 4,551 shares of the company's stock valued at $443,000 after acquiring an additional 770 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Veralto by 102.4% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 832 shares of the company's stock worth $81,000 after purchasing an additional 421 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sivia Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Veralto in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $201,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.28% of the company's stock.

Veralto Trading Up 0.6%

VLTO traded up $0.50 during trading on Friday, reaching $91.04. The company had a trading volume of 2,058,712 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,039,566. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $91.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $97.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a current ratio of 1.67. The company has a market cap of $22.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.28, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.98. Veralto has a 12-month low of $84.99 and a 12-month high of $110.11.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $1.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.41 billion. Veralto had a return on equity of 35.77% and a net margin of 17.08%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.95 EPS. Veralto has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.100-4.200 EPS and its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.970-1.010 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Veralto will post 3.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Veralto Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be paid a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 31st. Veralto's dividend payout ratio is currently 13.87%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VLTO has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Veralto in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. They issued a "buy" rating and a $110.00 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Veralto from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 31st. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Veralto from $118.00 to $110.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Veralto in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $108.00 price objective on shares of Veralto in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $107.56.

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. This segment provides water solutions, including chemical reagents, services, and digital solutions.

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