Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) Receives $112.55 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) have been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the eleven brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $112.55.

A number of research firms have commented on VLTO. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Veralto in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $125.00 target price for the company. Citigroup reduced their target price on Veralto from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Veralto from $116.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Veralto from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th.

Veralto Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VLTO opened at $99.83 on Friday. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of $101.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $105.70. Veralto has a 1-year low of $85.70 and a 1-year high of $115.00. The company has a market cap of $24.71 billion, a PE ratio of 29.89, a P/E/G ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 1.06.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.05. Veralto had a return on equity of 49.29% and a net margin of 16.04%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Veralto will post 3.66 EPS for the current year.

Veralto Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a $0.11 dividend. This is a boost from Veralto’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. Veralto’s payout ratio is 13.17%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Melissa Aquino sold 463 shares of Veralto stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.60, for a total value of $46,114.80. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,761 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,067,795.60. The trade was a 2.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 590 shares of Veralto stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.35, for a total value of $59,206.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,470 shares in the company, valued at $849,964.50. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 11,467 shares of company stock valued at $1,150,366 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veralto

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VLTO. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Veralto in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. purchased a new position in Veralto in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in Veralto in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. BankPlus Trust Department purchased a new position in Veralto in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Albion Financial Group UT boosted its holdings in Veralto by 2,100.0% in the 4th quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 352 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 336 shares during the period. 91.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.