Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) Shares Down 5.2% – Should You Sell?

Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) fell 5.2% on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $96.26 and last traded at $95.76. 591,230 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 55% from the average session volume of 1,301,197 shares. The stock had previously closed at $100.98.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VLTO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Veralto from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Veralto in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price objective on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Veralto from $117.00 to $116.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on Veralto from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Veralto currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $113.18.

Veralto Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $23.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.35 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 firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $103.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $106.38.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.05. Veralto had a net margin of 15.69% and a return on equity of 52.85%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Veralto Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Veralto Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. This is an increase from Veralto’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Veralto’s payout ratio is presently 13.58%.

Institutional Trading of Veralto

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. SVB Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Veralto during the fourth quarter worth $813,000. Private Trust Co. NA raised its holdings in Veralto by 30.7% in the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 2,847 shares of the company’s stock worth $290,000 after purchasing an additional 668 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Veralto by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 24,235 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,468,000 after acquiring an additional 823 shares during the period. Otter Creek Advisors LLC increased its stake in Veralto by 27.5% during the 4th quarter. Otter Creek Advisors LLC now owns 47,183 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,806,000 after purchasing an additional 10,189 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Veralto during the fourth quarter worth about $84,000. 91.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.