Hills Bank & Trust Co Sells 129 Shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Hills Bank & Trust Co trimmed its stake in shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 14,119 shares of the company’s stock after selling 129 shares during the quarter. Hills Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in Veralto were worth $1,438,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Veralto in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in Veralto during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. BankPlus Trust Department bought a new stake in Veralto in the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Albion Financial Group UT lifted its stake in Veralto by 2,100.0% in the fourth quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 352 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 336 shares during the period. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Veralto during the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,000. 91.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Veralto Trading Up 2.4 %

Shares of Veralto stock opened at $98.05 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $100.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $104.91. Veralto Co. has a 12-month low of $85.90 and a 12-month high of $115.00. The company has a market capitalization of $24.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 1.11.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.95 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%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Veralto Co. will post 3.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Veralto Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Veralto’s payout ratio is presently 13.17%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insider Transactions at Veralto

In other Veralto news, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 10,414 shares of Veralto stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were 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 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Melissa Aquino sold 463 shares of the business’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 owns 20,761 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,067,795.60. The trade was a 2.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 11,467 shares of company stock worth $1,150,366 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

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.