Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. Acquires 400 Shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 9.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,465 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc.’s holdings in Veralto were worth $455,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of VLTO. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in Veralto by 34.6% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,923,747 shares of the company’s stock valued at $400,928,000 after purchasing an additional 1,009,170 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Veralto by 9.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,599,499 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,074,654,000 after purchasing an additional 860,608 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Veralto by 207.2% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,122,898 shares of the company’s stock valued at $125,608,000 after purchasing an additional 757,389 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Veralto by 10.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,868,620 shares of the company’s stock valued at $654,232,000 after purchasing an additional 558,393 shares during the period. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its holdings in Veralto by 628.4% during the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 579,261 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,998,000 after purchasing an additional 499,735 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

Veralto Stock Up 2.3 %

Veralto stock opened at $100.16 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $24.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 1.11. Veralto Co. has a 1-year low of $85.90 and a 1-year high of $115.00. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $100.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $105.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. Research analysts anticipate that Veralto Co. will post 3.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Veralto Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Veralto’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.17%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VLTO has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Veralto in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Veralto from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company 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 report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Veralto from $116.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $112.55.

Insider Buying and Selling at Veralto

In other Veralto news, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 10,414 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.35, for a total value of $1,045,044.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 104,496 shares in the company, valued at $10,486,173.60. This trade represents a 9.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 590 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.35, for a total transaction of $59,206.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,470 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $849,964.50. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,467 shares of company stock worth $1,150,366 over the last quarter. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.