Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Acquires 176 Shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. grew its holdings in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 4.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,749 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 176 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Veralto were worth $382,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in VLTO. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in Veralto by 34.6% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,923,747 shares of the company’s stock valued at $400,928,000 after acquiring an additional 1,009,170 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Veralto by 9.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,599,499 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,074,654,000 after purchasing an additional 860,608 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position 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 buying an additional 757,389 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Veralto by 10.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,868,620 shares of the company’s stock worth $654,232,000 after buying an additional 558,393 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Veralto in the fourth quarter worth about $51,986,000. 91.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Melissa Aquino sold 463 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 $2,067,795.60. The trade was a 2.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 590 shares of the firm’s 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 $59,206.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,470 shares in the company, valued at $849,964.50. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 21,881 shares of company stock valued at $2,176,770 over the last ninety days. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Veralto Stock Performance

Shares of Veralto stock opened at $98.05 on Friday. Veralto Co. has a 1 year low of $85.91 and a 1 year high of $115.00. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $99.62 and its 200 day moving average is $104.11. The stock has a market cap of $24.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.35, a PEG ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.69.

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

Veralto Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Veralto’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.17%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VLTO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus reduced 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 initiated coverage on Veralto in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price objective for the company. 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Veralto from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Six equities 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, Veralto has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $113.50.

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.