Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,220,000 shares, an increase of 28.3% from the December 15th total of 3,290,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,320,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.2 days. Approximately 1.8% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on VLTO. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Veralto from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Veralto from $119.00 to $117.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Veralto in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Veralto from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Veralto from $117.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Six investment 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, Veralto currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $113.27.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 752 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.91, for a total transaction of $77,388.32. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 10,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,071,601.83. This represents a 6.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veralto

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in Veralto in the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in Veralto in the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new position in Veralto in the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Veralto by 692.3% during the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 309 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Albion Financial Group UT increased its position in shares of Veralto by 2,100.0% during the 4th quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 352 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 336 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

Veralto Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE VLTO traded down $1.08 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $102.98. The stock had a trading volume of 1,372,680 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,140,188. 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 has a 1 year low of $75.03 and a 1 year high of $115.00. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $104.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $105.76. The firm has a market cap of $25.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 1.06.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.04. Veralto had a net margin of 15.69% and a return on equity of 52.85%. The business had revenue of $1.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.75 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Veralto will post 3.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Veralto Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.11 dividend. This is a boost from Veralto’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. Veralto’s payout ratio is presently 13.58%.

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.