Boston Financial Mangement LLC Cuts Stock Position in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Boston Financial Mangement LLC lessened its stake in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 9.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 11,546 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,194 shares during the period. Boston Financial Mangement LLC’s holdings in Veralto were worth $1,176,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Veralto by 34.6% during 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. State Street Corp boosted its position in Veralto by 9.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,599,499 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,074,654,000 after buying an additional 860,608 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Veralto by 207.2% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,122,898 shares of the company’s stock valued at $125,608,000 after buying an additional 757,389 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Veralto by 10.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,868,620 shares of the company’s stock valued at $654,232,000 after buying an additional 558,393 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its position in Veralto by 628.4% in the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 579,261 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,998,000 after buying an additional 499,735 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

Veralto Price Performance

VLTO opened at $97.72 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $101.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $105.99. Veralto Co. has a 12-month low of $83.34 and a 12-month high of $115.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27. The firm has a market cap of $24.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.26, a PEG ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 1.06.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Veralto Co. will post 3.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Veralto Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on VLTO. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Veralto from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Veralto in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $125.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Veralto from $116.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Citigroup decreased 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. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $112.55.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Veralto news, SVP Melissa Aquino sold 463 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 20,761 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,067,795.60. This trade represents a 2.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.