Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) Price Target Lowered to $116.00 at Citigroup

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) had its price target trimmed by Citigroup from $118.00 to $116.00 in a research report sent to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Veralto from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Veralto from $117.00 to $119.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Veralto in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Veralto from $119.00 to $117.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Veralto has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $113.27.

Veralto Stock Performance

Shares of Veralto stock opened at $101.13 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.30 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a current ratio of 2.13, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $104.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $105.69. Veralto has a 12 month low of $73.91 and a 12 month high of $115.00.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.04. Veralto had a net margin of 15.69% and a return on equity of 52.85%. The company had revenue of $1.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.75 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Veralto will post 3.48 EPS for the current year.

Veralto Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. This is an increase from Veralto’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. Veralto’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.58%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 752 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.91, for a total value of $77,388.32. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 10,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,071,601.83. This trade represents a 6.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veralto

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Veralto during the third quarter worth about $25,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in Veralto in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new stake in Veralto during the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Veralto by 692.3% in the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 309 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Erste Asset Management GmbH purchased a new position in Veralto in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $46,000. 91.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.