Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC Acquires 2,271 Shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC lifted its stake in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 22.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,281 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,271 shares during the quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC’s holdings in Veralto were worth $1,251,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in Veralto by 34.6% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,923,747 shares of the company’s stock valued at $400,928,000 after buying an additional 1,009,170 shares during the last quarter. PEAK6 Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Veralto by 246.3% in the 3rd quarter. PEAK6 Investments LLC now owns 8,733 shares of the company’s stock worth $977,000 after purchasing an additional 6,211 shares during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its stake in Veralto by 18.4% in the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 17,228 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,755,000 after purchasing an additional 2,676 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank boosted its stake in Veralto by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 53,622 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,461,000 after purchasing an additional 3,284 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Veralto by 15.5% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 14,115 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,438,000 after purchasing an additional 1,889 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

Veralto Trading Up 0.3 %

Veralto stock opened at $100.06 on Thursday. Veralto Co. has a 52-week low of $81.23 and a 52-week high of $115.00. The company has a market cap of $24.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.96, a P/E/G ratio of 4.21 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a quick ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $102.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $106.30.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last announced 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 net margin of 16.04% and a return on equity of 49.29%. Analysts predict that Veralto Co. will post 3.63 EPS for the current year.

Veralto Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a $0.11 dividend. This is a boost from Veralto’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. Veralto’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.17%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Veralto from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Veralto from $116.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Veralto in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $125.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on Veralto from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $112.55.

Veralto Company Profile

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.