Welch & Forbes LLC Reduces Holdings in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Welch & Forbes LLC decreased its position in shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 14.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 19,683 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,246 shares during the quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Veralto were worth $2,005,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Veralto by 6.9% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,353 shares of the company’s stock worth $263,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its holdings in shares of Veralto by 66.9% during the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 51,475 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,758,000 after buying an additional 20,639 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its holdings in shares of Veralto by 2.6% during the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 79,526 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,896,000 after buying an additional 2,011 shares during the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank grew its holdings in shares of Veralto by 5.5% during the third quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 50,126 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,607,000 after buying an additional 2,598 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Graypoint LLC grew its holdings in shares of Veralto by 2.4% during the third quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 4,514 shares of the company’s stock worth $505,000 after buying an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Veralto

In other news, SVP Melissa Aquino sold 463 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.60, for a total transaction of $46,114.80. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,761 shares in the company, valued at $2,067,795.60. This represents a 2.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 590 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.35, for a total transaction of $59,206.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,470 shares in the company, valued at approximately $849,964.50. This trade represents a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,467 shares of company stock worth $1,150,366 in the last 90 days. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Veralto Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of NYSE:VLTO opened at $100.16 on Friday. Veralto Co. has a 52 week low of $85.90 and a 52 week high of $115.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 1.92. The company has a market cap of $24.79 billion, a PE ratio of 29.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 1.11. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $100.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $105.37.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.05. Veralto had a net margin of 16.04% and a return on equity of 49.29%. As a group, research analysts expect that Veralto Co. will post 3.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Veralto Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Veralto from $116.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Veralto from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Veralto from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Veralto in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price target for the company. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $112.55.

Veralto 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.