Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) Sets New 12-Month Low – Time to Sell?

Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)’s share price reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $84.00 and last traded at $85.14, with a volume of 148106 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $88.82.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Veralto Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 1.92. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $98.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $103.45. The stock has a market cap of $21.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.97.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.95 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%. Research analysts predict that Veralto Co. will post 3.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Veralto Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Veralto’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.17%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 10,414 shares of Veralto stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 104,496 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,486,173.60. This trade represents a 9.06 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 590 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $849,964.50. This trade represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 22,471 shares of company stock valued at $2,234,030. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Veralto

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of VLTO. Savant Capital LLC grew its position in Veralto by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 20,177 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,055,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in shares of Veralto by 19.4% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 622 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in Veralto by 1.8% during the third quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,767 shares of the company’s stock valued at $645,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC grew its stake in Veralto by 17.3% in the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 699 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Veralto by 35.3% in the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 418 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. 91.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.