Park Avenue Securities LLC Purchases 2,676 Shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 18.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,228 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,676 shares during the quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Veralto were worth $1,755,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in VLTO. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its position in Veralto by 32.9% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 243,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,256,000 after purchasing an additional 60,300 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Veralto by 34.6% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,923,747 shares of the company’s stock worth $400,928,000 after acquiring an additional 1,009,170 shares during the last quarter. PEAK6 Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Veralto by 246.3% during the third quarter. PEAK6 Investments LLC now owns 8,733 shares of the company’s stock valued at $977,000 after purchasing an additional 6,211 shares in the last quarter. Northstar Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Veralto by 22.5% during the third quarter. Northstar Asset Management Inc. now owns 78,326 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,762,000 after purchasing an additional 14,398 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in Veralto by 10.2% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 163,227 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,259,000 after acquiring an additional 15,048 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

Veralto Stock Performance

Shares of VLTO stock opened at $102.98 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $104.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $105.84. The firm has a market cap of $25.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.78, a PEG ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 1.06. Veralto Co. has a 1 year low of $75.03 and a 1 year high of $115.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 2.13.

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

Veralto Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.11 per share. This is an increase from Veralto’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. Veralto’s payout ratio is currently 13.58%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Veralto in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $125.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup cut their price target on Veralto from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Veralto from $119.00 to $117.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Veralto from $117.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Veralto from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Six equities research 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, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $113.27.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 752 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.91, for a total transaction of $77,388.32. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 10,413 shares in the company, valued at $1,071,601.83. This represents a 6.74 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

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.