Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co Buys New Stake in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co purchased a new position in shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 24,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,444,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Veralto in the fourth quarter worth about $289,028,000. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of Veralto by 34.6% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,923,747 shares of the company’s stock worth $400,928,000 after acquiring an additional 1,009,170 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Veralto by 9.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,599,499 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,074,654,000 after acquiring an additional 860,608 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Veralto by 207.2% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,122,898 shares of the company’s stock valued at $125,608,000 after acquiring an additional 757,389 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Veralto by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,601,676 shares of the company’s stock worth $670,781,000 after purchasing an additional 733,056 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

Veralto Stock Down 5.5 %

VLTO stock opened at $88.71 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $98.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $103.48. Veralto Co. has a 52-week low of $86.04 and a 52-week 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 firm has a market capitalization of $22.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.56, a P/E/G ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.97.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.05. Veralto had a return on equity of 49.29% and a net margin of 16.04%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Veralto Co. will post 3.66 EPS for the current year.

Veralto Announces Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. Veralto’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.17%.

Insider Activity

In other Veralto news, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 590 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.05, for a total value of $57,259.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 10,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $971,567.55. This represents a 5.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 10,414 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.35, for a total transaction of $1,045,044.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 104,496 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,486,173.60. The trade was a 9.06 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 22,471 shares of company stock worth $2,234,030 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Veralto 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.