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

Veralto Corporation (NYSE:VLTO)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday. The stock traded as high as $119.40 and last traded at $119.5760, with a volume of 12,353 shares. The stock had previously closed at $118.77.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird set a $111.00 price target on shares of Veralto in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Veralto from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, October 19th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $135.00 price objective on shares of Veralto in a research note on Friday, October 30th. Barclays upped their target price on Veralto from $117.00 to $129.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 2nd. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $120.00 price target (up from $115.00) on shares of Veralto in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $120.70.

Veralto Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $28.89 billion, a PE ratio of 29.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a quick ratio of 1.82, a current ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $101.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $93.74.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The company reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.09 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.50 billion. Veralto had a net margin of 17.27% and a return on equity of 35.08%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.99 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Veralto Corporation will post 4.51 EPS for the current year.

Veralto Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Veralto

In other news, SVP Mattias Byström sold 9,069 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 35,536 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,132,836.80. This trade represents a 20.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Bernard M. Skeete sold 1,514 shares of Veralto stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.58, for a total transaction of $170,446.12. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 4,760 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $535,880.80. This represents a 24.13% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 55,094 shares of company stock valued at $6,032,688 over the last 90 days. 0.43% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in Veralto during the 2nd quarter valued at $235,200,000. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,472,304 shares during the period. M&G PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Veralto by 265.0% in the 3rd quarter. M&G PLC now owns 826,232 shares of the company’s stock worth $77,666,000 after buying an additional 599,850 shares during the period. Amundi grew its position in shares of Veralto by 16.3% during 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. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management LLC Investment Advisor bought a new position in shares of Veralto during the 2nd quarter worth $35,594,000. Institutional investors own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

Veralto Company Profile

Veralto Corporation is a global provider of water quality and product quality solutions. Its businesses develop technologies and services that help customers monitor and treat water, as well as ensure the quality, safety and consistency of products and packaging. Veralto operates through two segments: Water Quality and Product Quality & Innovation. Its offerings include water analysis, treatment and monitoring systems, and technologies for product coding and marking, packaging design, color management and print production.