State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Sells 2,103 Shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D trimmed its position in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 2.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 87,794 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,103 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Veralto were worth $8,942,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp increased its stake in Veralto by 9.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,599,499 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,074,654,000 after acquiring an additional 860,608 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased 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 valued at $654,232,000 after acquiring an additional 558,393 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake 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 during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in Veralto by 5.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,329,717 shares of the company’s stock valued at $372,462,000 after acquiring an additional 162,347 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in Veralto by 0.4% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,885,996 shares of the company’s stock valued at $322,827,000 after acquiring an additional 11,430 shares during the last quarter. 91.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on VLTO shares. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Veralto in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $125.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Veralto from $116.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Veralto from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price 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 five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Veralto currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $112.55.

Veralto Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:VLTO opened at $97.76 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $24.18 billion, a PE ratio of 29.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.21 and a beta of 1.06. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $102.03 and its 200-day moving average is $106.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 1.92. Veralto Co. has a 52 week low of $83.34 and a 52 week high of $115.00.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last issued its quarterly 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 net margin of 16.04% and a return on equity of 49.29%. Sell-side analysts predict that Veralto Co. will post 3.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Veralto Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a $0.11 dividend. This is a positive change from Veralto’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. Veralto’s payout ratio is presently 13.17%.

Insider Activity at Veralto

In related news, SVP Melissa Aquino sold 463 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 in the company, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.