Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) Raised to Strong-Buy at Jefferies Financial Group

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) was upgraded by equities researchers at Jefferies Financial Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a report issued on Monday, Zacks reports.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on VLTO. Robert W. Baird set a $111.00 price target on Veralto in a report on Thursday, July 30th. BNP Paribas Exane reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective (up from $115.00) on shares of Veralto in a report on Thursday, July 30th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Veralto from $104.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on shares of Veralto from $100.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $125.00 target price on shares of Veralto in a research note on Tuesday, September 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $112.70.

Veralto Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VLTO opened at $99.03 on Monday. Veralto has a fifty-two week low of $80.03 and a fifty-two week high of $105.75. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $96.82 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $91.46. The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 1.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The firm has a market cap of $24.14 billion, a PE ratio of 25.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.62.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The company reported $1.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.10. Veralto had a return on equity of 34.76% and a net margin of 17.35%. The company had revenue of $1.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.45 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.93 EPS. Veralto’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Veralto has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.350-4.430 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.060-1.090 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Veralto will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Veralto

In related news, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 7,097 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.52, for a total transaction of $720,487.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 124,085 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,597,109.20. This represents a 5.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 986 shares of Veralto stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.05, for a total transaction of $95,691.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 8,565 shares in the company, valued at approximately $831,233.25. This trade represents a 10.32% decrease in their position. 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 15,180 shares of company stock worth $1,490,394 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.43% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Veralto

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in Veralto by 31.5% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 6,150,388 shares of the company’s stock worth $543,817,000 after purchasing an additional 1,472,304 shares during the last quarter. Amundi raised its holdings in shares of Veralto by 16.3% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 3,797,526 shares of the company’s stock worth $335,785,000 after buying an additional 531,478 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in Veralto during the second quarter worth $235,200,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in Veralto by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,095,393 shares of the company’s stock valued at $185,266,000 after purchasing an additional 69,578 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Veralto by 16.4% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,788,026 shares of the company’s stock worth $158,063,000 after acquiring an additional 252,267 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

About Veralto

Veralto Corporation (NYSE: VLTO) is a global provider of products, services and technology focused on water analytics and product quality and innovation. The company was formed in 2023 through the separation of certain operating companies from Danaher Corporation and is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts.

Veralto’s Water Analytics segment provides equipment, software and services used to monitor, analyze and manage water and wastewater. Its brands include Hach, Trojan Technologies, ChemTreat and OTT HydroMet, which serve municipal, industrial and environmental applications such as water quality testing, disinfection, treatment and hydrology.

The company’s Product Quality and Innovation segment helps manufacturers and consumer-goods companies manage production quality, packaging, coding, marking and product identification.