Welch & Forbes LLC Acquires Shares of 128,298 Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Welch & Forbes LLC acquired a new position in shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 128,298 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,554,000. Welch & Forbes LLC owned approximately 0.05% of Veralto as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Veralto during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Blue Trust Inc. bought a new position in Veralto in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. First Command Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Veralto in the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt bought a new position in shares of Veralto in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Dougherty Wealth Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Veralto in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. 91.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on VLTO shares. Citigroup raised their price objective on Veralto from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Veralto from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of Veralto in a research report on Tuesday, March 12th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $103.00 target price on the stock. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Veralto from $97.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on Veralto in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. They set a “hold” rating and a $79.00 price target on the stock. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.18.

Insider Activity at Veralto

In other Veralto news, SVP Melissa Aquino sold 8,041 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.56, for a total transaction of $752,315.96. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 20,761 shares in the company, valued at $1,942,399.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Mattias Bystrom sold 500 shares of Veralto stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.10, for a total value of $43,050.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 30,310 shares in the company, valued at $2,609,691. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Melissa Aquino sold 8,041 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.56, for a total value of $752,315.96. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,761 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,942,399.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Veralto Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:VLTO traded up $0.28 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $97.27. 1,235,403 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,586,138. Veralto Co. has a 52-week low of $65.51 and a 52-week high of $97.39. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $89.79 and a 200 day moving average of $81.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $1.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.23 billion. The firm’s revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Veralto Co. will post 3.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Veralto Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were given a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.37%.

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.