Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Buys 13,628 Shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 3.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 432,121 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 13,628 shares during the period. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. owned 0.17% of Veralto worth $42,110,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. purchased a new stake in Veralto in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in Veralto in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. BankPlus Trust Department purchased a new stake in Veralto in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. purchased a new stake in Veralto in the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. Finally, Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp purchased a new stake in Veralto in the fourth quarter worth about $44,000. 91.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on VLTO shares. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Veralto from $116.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Veralto from $103.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Northcoast Research started coverage on shares of Veralto in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. They set a “buy” rating and a $110.00 price target on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Veralto from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Veralto from $105.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $110.09.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 10,414 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.56, for a total transaction of $1,026,403.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 116,637 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,495,742.72. This trade represents a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Lesley Beneteau sold 458 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.84, for a total transaction of $46,184.72. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,368,499.64. The trade was a 3.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 56,917 shares of company stock worth $5,423,033 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Veralto Stock Down 1.7%

Shares of Veralto stock opened at $98.22 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $24.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.97. The company’s 50 day moving average is $95.65 and its 200 day moving average is $99.27. Veralto Co. has a twelve month low of $83.87 and a twelve month high of $115.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $1.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.28 billion. Veralto had a net margin of 16.04% and a return on equity of 49.29%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.84 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Veralto Co. will post 3.66 EPS for the current year.

Veralto Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Veralto’s payout ratio is 12.57%.

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.