Pictet Asset Management Holding SA Acquires 54,795 Shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its holdings in shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 1.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,764,889 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 54,795 shares during the quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA owned 1.93% of Veralto worth $485,304,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in shares of Veralto by 4.3% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 13,475 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,507,000 after purchasing an additional 560 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC increased its holdings in Veralto by 34.3% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 66,482 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,437,000 after buying an additional 16,977 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Veralto by 562.3% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 755 shares of the company’s stock valued at $84,000 after buying an additional 641 shares in the last quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Veralto by 15.5% during the 3rd quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 2,051 shares of the company’s stock worth $229,000 after acquiring an additional 276 shares during the period. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its position in shares of Veralto by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 3,851 shares of the company’s stock worth $431,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. 91.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Veralto

In other news, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 590 shares of Veralto stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.35, for a total transaction of $59,206.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,470 shares in the company, valued at $849,964.50. This trade represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Melissa Aquino sold 463 shares of the firm’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 value of $46,114.80. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,761 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,067,795.60. This represents a 2.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 21,881 shares of company stock valued at $2,176,770. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Veralto Stock Performance

Shares of VLTO stock opened at $98.05 on Friday. Veralto Co. has a 52 week low of $85.91 and a 52 week high of $115.00. The firm has a market capitalization 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 stock has a fifty day moving average of $99.62 and a 200 day moving average of $104.11. The company has a quick ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27.

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

Veralto Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 13.17%.

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.