Sandy Spring Bank Lowers Holdings in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Sandy Spring Bank trimmed its position in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 7.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,655 shares of the company’s stock after selling 865 shares during the period. Sandy Spring Bank’s holdings in Veralto were worth $1,085,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in Veralto in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. BankPlus Trust Department acquired a new position in shares of Veralto during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Albion Financial Group UT grew its stake in shares of Veralto by 2,100.0% during the 4th quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 352 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 336 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Veralto during the 4th quarter worth $42,000. Finally, Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Veralto by 35.3% during the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 418 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the period. 91.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insider Transactions at Veralto

In other news, SVP Melissa Aquino sold 463 shares of the 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,761 shares in the company, valued at $2,067,795.60. This represents a 2.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 104,496 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,486,173.60. This trade represents a 9.06 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,467 shares of company stock worth $1,150,366 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Veralto Price Performance

NYSE:VLTO opened at $98.14 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $24.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 1.11. 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 company’s 50-day moving average is $100.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $104.54. Veralto Co. has a 12-month low of $85.91 and a 12-month high of $115.00.

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 net margin of 16.04% and a return on equity of 49.29%. Research analysts expect that Veralto Co. will post 3.66 EPS for the current year.

Veralto Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued 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 dividend yield of 0.45%. Veralto’s payout ratio is currently 13.17%.

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.