Hsbc Holdings PLC Boosts Holdings in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its stake in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 10.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,145,311 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 108,098 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC’s holdings in Veralto were worth $116,627,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new position in shares of Veralto during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in Veralto in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. BankPlus Trust Department purchased a new stake in Veralto during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Albion Financial Group UT boosted its position in Veralto by 2,100.0% in the 4th quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 352 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 336 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Veralto during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

Veralto Stock Performance

VLTO opened at $89.04 on Wednesday. Veralto Co. has a 1-year low of $83.87 and a 1-year high of $115.00. The company has a market capitalization of $22.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.97. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $95.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $101.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.69.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.05. Veralto had a net margin of 16.04% and a return on equity of 49.29%. Research analysts predict that Veralto Co. will post 3.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Veralto Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Veralto’s dividend payout ratio is 13.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Veralto

In other Veralto news, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 10,414 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.35, for a total value of $1,045,044.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 104,496 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,486,173.60. The trade was a 9.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Melissa Aquino sold 463 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.60, for a total transaction of $46,114.80. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 20,761 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,067,795.60. This represents a 2.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 22,471 shares of company stock valued at $2,234,030 in the last three months. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on VLTO shares. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Veralto from $110.00 to $102.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Citigroup lowered their target price on Veralto from $116.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Veralto from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $111.10.

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.