Principal Securities Inc. Buys 4,786 Shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Principal Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 141.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,180 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,786 shares during the quarter. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in Veralto were worth $833,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Veralto in the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. Albion Financial Group UT increased its holdings in Veralto by 2,100.0% in the 4th quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 352 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 336 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Veralto in the 4th quarter worth about $42,000. Finally, Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new position in Veralto in the 3rd quarter worth about $46,000. 91.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Melissa Aquino sold 463 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.60, for a total value of $46,114.80. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,761 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,067,795.60. This represents a 2.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VLTO has been the subject of several analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Veralto in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $125.00 target price for the company. Citigroup dropped their price target on Veralto from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Veralto from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Veralto from $116.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $112.55.

Veralto Price Performance

Shares of Veralto stock opened at $97.72 on Friday. 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 business’s 50 day simple moving average is $101.70 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $105.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.25 and a beta of 1.06. Veralto Co. has a one year low of $83.34 and a one year high of $115.00.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share (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%. Analysts forecast that Veralto Co. will post 3.66 EPS for the current year.

Veralto Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. This is a boost from Veralto’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. Veralto’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.17%.

Veralto 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.