Clearbridge Investments LLC Purchases 24,246 Shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,492,720 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 24,246 shares during the quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC owned approximately 0.60% of Veralto worth $142,510,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Goodman Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Veralto during the second quarter worth $26,000. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in Veralto during the 1st quarter worth about $30,000. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new stake in Veralto during the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Veralto in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. raised its stake in shares of Veralto by 11,100.0% in the second quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 336 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 333 shares during the last quarter. 91.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VLTO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Veralto from $110.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Veralto from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Veralto from $101.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Veralto from $117.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Veralto from $100.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Veralto presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $105.85.

Veralto Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:VLTO opened at $110.03 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $108.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $99.98. Veralto Co. has a fifty-two week low of $65.51 and a fifty-two week high of $112.77. The company has a market capitalization of $27.16 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 1.96 and a quick ratio of 1.70.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.05. Veralto had a net margin of 15.60% and a return on equity of 58.82%. The company had revenue of $1.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.28 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.80 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Veralto Co. will post 3.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Veralto Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 27th will be issued a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 27th. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 753 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.10, for a total value of $83,658.30. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,918 shares in the company, valued at $1,324,089.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 13,191 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.98, for a total value of $1,477,128.18. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 138,546 shares in the company, valued at $15,514,381.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 753 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.10, for a total transaction of $83,658.30. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,918 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,324,089.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 25,096 shares of company stock valued at $2,772,707. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.