Bank of Nova Scotia Trims Stock Holdings in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Bank of Nova Scotia lessened its holdings in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 26.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 105,269 shares of the company’s stock after selling 38,431 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia’s holdings in Veralto were worth $10,727,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Veralto by 34.6% during 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. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its position in Veralto by 18.4% in the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 17,228 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,755,000 after buying an additional 2,676 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank raised its stake in Veralto by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 53,622 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,461,000 after acquiring an additional 3,284 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Veralto by 15.5% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 14,115 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,438,000 after purchasing an additional 1,889 shares in the last quarter. Finally, David Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Veralto in the 4th quarter worth $1,013,000. Institutional investors own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Veralto from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on 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 lowered their target price on shares of Veralto from $116.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Veralto in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price target for the company. Six 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 company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $113.50.

Veralto Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:VLTO opened at $88.67 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $96.96 and a 200 day moving average of $102.63. 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 company has a market capitalization of $21.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.97. Veralto Co. has a 52 week low of $83.87 and a 52 week high of $115.00.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last released its quarterly 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 predict that Veralto Co. will post 3.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Veralto Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Veralto’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Veralto news, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 10,414 shares of the company’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 value of $1,045,044.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 104,496 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,486,173.60. This represents a 9.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 590 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.05, for a total transaction of $57,259.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 10,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $971,567.55. This represents a 5.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 22,471 shares of company stock worth $2,234,030 in the last three months. Corporate 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.