Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC Trims Stake in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC cut its stake in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 7.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 31,461 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,479 shares during the quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC’s holdings in Veralto were worth $3,204,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. PEAK6 Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Veralto by 246.3% during the 3rd quarter. PEAK6 Investments LLC now owns 8,733 shares of the company’s stock valued at $977,000 after acquiring an additional 6,211 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 1,009,170 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its holdings in Veralto by 18.4% in the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 17,228 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,755,000 after purchasing an additional 2,676 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in shares of Veralto by 10.2% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 163,227 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,259,000 after buying an additional 15,048 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank raised its stake in shares of Veralto by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 53,622 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,461,000 after buying an additional 3,284 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

Veralto Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of Veralto stock opened at $97.57 on Tuesday. Veralto Co. has a 1-year low of $85.91 and a 1-year high of $115.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.69. The stock has a market cap of $24.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.21, a P/E/G ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 1.11. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $99.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $103.85.

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

Veralto Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.11 per share. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.17%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Veralto

In other Veralto news, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 590 shares of Veralto stock in a transaction 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,470 shares in the company, valued at $849,964.50. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed 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 dated Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 9.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 21,881 shares of company stock worth $2,176,770 in the last ninety days. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.