Allianz Asset Management GmbH Raises Stake in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its stake in shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 3.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 729,452 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 22,210 shares during the quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH’s holdings in Veralto were worth $74,295,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of Veralto by 34.6% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,923,747 shares of the company’s stock worth $400,928,000 after buying an additional 1,009,170 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Veralto by 9.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,599,499 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,074,654,000 after acquiring an additional 860,608 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Veralto by 207.2% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,122,898 shares of the company’s stock worth $125,608,000 after acquiring an additional 757,389 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Veralto by 10.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,868,620 shares of the company’s stock valued at $654,232,000 after acquiring an additional 558,393 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its position in shares of Veralto by 628.4% during the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 579,261 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,998,000 after acquiring an additional 499,735 shares during the last quarter. 91.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Melissa Aquino sold 463 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.60, for a total transaction of $46,114.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,761 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,067,795.60. This represents a 2.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Veralto from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of 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 set a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on Veralto from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Veralto has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $112.55.

Veralto Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:VLTO opened at $98.21 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27. The stock has a market cap of $24.29 billion, a PE ratio of 29.41, a PEG ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 1.06. The company’s fifty day moving average is $101.54 and its 200 day moving average is $105.93. Veralto Co. has a 52 week low of $85.70 and a 52 week high of $115.00.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. Research analysts anticipate that Veralto Co. will post 3.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Veralto Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. This is an increase from Veralto’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. Veralto’s payout ratio is presently 13.17%.

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.