Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) Short Interest Down 21.0% in March

Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) saw a significant drop in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,530,000 shares, a drop of 21.0% from the February 28th total of 4,470,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,460,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.4 days. Currently, 1.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling at Veralto

In other news, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 590 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.35, for a total value of $59,206.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,470 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $849,964.50. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 10,414 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 104,496 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,486,173.60. This represents a 9.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 21,881 shares of company stock valued at $2,176,770. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Veralto

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in Veralto during the 4th quarter worth about $289,028,000. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Veralto by 222.3% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,602,399 shares of the company’s stock worth $265,054,000 after buying an additional 1,794,992 shares during the period. Champlain Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Veralto during the fourth quarter worth about $133,058,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of Veralto by 34.6% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,923,747 shares of the company’s stock worth $400,928,000 after buying an additional 1,009,170 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets acquired a new stake in Veralto in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $96,888,000. 91.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Veralto Trading Up 1.1 %

Veralto stock traded up $1.10 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $98.72. 790,839 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,501,229. Veralto has a 52 week low of $85.91 and a 52 week 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. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.44 billion, a PE ratio of 29.56, a P/E/G ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $99.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $103.77.

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

Veralto Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders 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 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Veralto’s payout ratio is currently 13.17%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VLTO has been the subject of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Veralto from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Veralto from $116.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Veralto in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $125.00 target price for the company. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on Veralto from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $113.50.

About Veralto

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.