Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) Cut to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Saturday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Veralto from $100.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Veralto from $102.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $125.00 price target on shares of Veralto in a research note on Tuesday, September 15th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Veralto from $113.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Veralto from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, October 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $112.60.

Veralto Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of VLTO stock opened at $103.30 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.78 and a quick ratio of 1.61. The company has a market cap of $25.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.78, a PEG ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.62. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $97.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $93.04. Veralto has a 1-year low of $80.03 and a 1-year high of $105.61.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The company reported $1.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $1.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.45 billion. Veralto had a return on equity of 34.76% and a net margin of 17.35%. The business’s revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.93 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Veralto will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Veralto Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 30th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Veralto’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.13%.

Insider Transactions at Veralto

In other news, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 986 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.05, for a total value of $95,691.30. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 8,565 shares in the company, valued at $831,233.25. This represents a 10.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 7,098 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total transaction of $745,290.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 120,060 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,606,300. This represents a 5.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 15,181 shares of company stock valued at $1,561,469 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.43% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Veralto

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of VLTO. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Veralto by 20.0% during the third quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 4,559 shares of the company’s stock valued at $430,000 after acquiring an additional 759 shares during the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Veralto by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,407 shares of the company’s stock worth $699,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC boosted its position in shares of Veralto by 17.9% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 3,332 shares of the company’s stock worth $314,000 after purchasing an additional 506 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its position in shares of Veralto by 60.1% during the 3rd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 8,829 shares of the company’s stock worth $833,000 after purchasing an additional 3,316 shares during the period. Finally, Evergreen Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Veralto by 160.7% during the 3rd quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 7,755 shares of the company’s stock worth $732,000 after purchasing an additional 4,780 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

Veralto Company Profile

Veralto Corporation (NYSE: VLTO) is a global provider of technology, products and services that help customers manage water quality and improve the quality, safety and efficiency of packaged goods. The company serves municipal, industrial, commercial and consumer-facing markets through a portfolio of operating businesses.

Veralto’s Water Quality segment provides instruments, software and services used to test, monitor and treat water and wastewater. Its brands include Hach, Trojan Technologies and ChemTreat, which support applications such as laboratory and field testing, disinfection, water treatment and industrial water management.

The company’s Product Quality & Innovation segment supplies technologies used in product identification, packaging design, color management and quality inspection.