Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Has $42.62 Million Stock Position in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. cut its position in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 0.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 418,493 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,989 shares during the period. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Veralto were worth $42,624,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Veralto by 10.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,868,620 shares of the company’s stock worth $654,232,000 after acquiring an additional 558,393 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Veralto by 34.6% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,923,747 shares of the company’s stock valued at $400,928,000 after acquiring an additional 1,009,170 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Veralto by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,329,717 shares of the company’s stock valued at $372,462,000 after purchasing an additional 162,347 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in Veralto by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,885,996 shares of the company’s stock worth $322,827,000 after purchasing an additional 11,430 shares in the last quarter. 91.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Veralto Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:VLTO opened at $98.87 on Monday. Veralto Co. has a fifty-two week low of $81.23 and a fifty-two week high of $115.00. The company’s 50-day moving average is $102.92 and its 200 day moving average is $106.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 1.92. The company has a market capitalization of $24.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.21 and a beta of 1.06.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last released its 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%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Veralto Co. will post 3.63 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. This is a positive change from Veralto’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Veralto’s payout ratio is presently 13.17%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VLTO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Veralto from $116.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Veralto in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Veralto from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Veralto from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Veralto presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $112.55.

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.