Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) Sets New 52-Week High – Should You Buy?

Veralto Corporation (NYSE:VLTO)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday. The stock traded as high as $119.03 and last traded at $118.4120, with a volume of 251,859 shares. The stock had previously closed at $117.02.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on VLTO. UBS Group upped their target price on Veralto from $104.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Robert W. Baird set a $111.00 price target on Veralto in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Veralto from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, October 19th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on Veralto from $109.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, November 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Veralto from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 24th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Veralto currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $120.70.

Veralto Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $28.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.97, a P/E/G ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.51. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $100.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $93.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 2.03 and a quick ratio of 1.61.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The company reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.09 by $0.09. Veralto had a net margin of 17.27% and a return on equity of 35.08%. The firm had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.50 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.99 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Veralto Corporation will post 4.51 EPS for the current year.

Veralto Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 30th were issued a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 30th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Veralto’s payout ratio is presently 12.87%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Mattias Byström sold 9,069 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.30, for a total transaction of $1,054,724.70. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 35,536 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,132,836.80. This represents a 20.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 36,427 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.89, for a total value of $3,966,536.03. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 8,565 shares in the company, valued at $932,642.85. This trade represents a 80.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 55,094 shares of company stock worth $6,032,688 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.43% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veralto

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. MGO One Seven LLC boosted its position in Veralto by 3.2% during the third quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 3,477 shares of the company’s stock worth $328,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Veralto by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,751 shares of the company’s stock valued at $244,000 after buying an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its stake in Veralto by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 12,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,198,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. Nolet Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Veralto by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Nolet Wealth Management LLC now owns 15,277 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,355,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. Finally, North Dakota State Investment Board boosted its position in shares of Veralto by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. North Dakota State Investment Board now owns 7,517 shares of the company’s stock valued at $709,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

About Veralto

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.