Citigroup Has Lowered Expectations for Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) Stock Price

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) had its price objective dropped by stock analysts at Citigroup from $116.00 to $100.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “neutral” rating on the stock. Citigroup’s target price indicates a potential upside of 10.33% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective 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. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Veralto from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $111.90.

Veralto Price Performance

VLTO stock traded up $1.02 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $90.64. 1,235,478 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,515,545. Veralto has a 12-month low of $83.87 and a 12-month high of $115.00. 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’s 50 day moving average is $96.73 and its 200 day moving average is $102.42. The company has a market cap of $22.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.97.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.05. Veralto had a return on equity of 49.29% and a net margin of 16.04%. On average, research analysts expect that Veralto will post 3.66 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 10,414 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 value of $1,045,044.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 104,496 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,486,173.60. This trade represents a 9.06 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 590 shares of Veralto stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.35, for a total transaction of $59,206.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,470 shares in the company, valued at approximately $849,964.50. This trade represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 22,471 shares of company stock worth $2,234,030. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Veralto

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Veralto during the 4th quarter worth approximately $289,028,000. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in Veralto by 222.3% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,602,399 shares of the company’s stock worth $265,054,000 after buying an additional 1,794,992 shares during the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Veralto during the fourth quarter valued at $133,058,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in Veralto by 34.6% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,923,747 shares of the company’s stock worth $400,928,000 after purchasing an additional 1,009,170 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets bought a new stake in shares of Veralto during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $96,888,000. 91.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.