Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) Stock Rating Cut to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Saturday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on VLTO. Stifel Nicolaus set a $113.00 price objective on shares of Veralto in a research report on Monday, October 19th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Veralto from $113.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $125.00 target price on shares of Veralto in a research report on Tuesday, September 15th. BNP Paribas Exane reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $120.00 target price (up from $115.00) on shares of Veralto in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Veralto from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, October 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Veralto presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $112.60.

Veralto Trading Down 0.4%

Veralto stock opened at $104.52 on Friday. Veralto has a one year low of $80.03 and a one year high of $105.75. The business’s fifty day moving average is $97.52 and its 200 day moving average is $92.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.48 billion, a PE ratio of 26.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.78 and a quick ratio of 1.61.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The company reported $1.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $1.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.45 billion. Veralto had a return on equity of 34.76% and a net margin of 17.35%. Veralto’s revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.93 EPS. Veralto has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.350-4.430 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.060-1.090 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Veralto will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Veralto Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 30th will be paid a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 30th. Veralto’s dividend payout ratio is 13.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 986 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.05, for a total value of $95,691.30. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 8,565 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $831,233.25. This trade represents a 10.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 7,098 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total transaction of $745,290.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 120,060 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,606,300. This trade represents a 5.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 15,181 shares of company stock worth $1,561,469. 0.43% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Veralto

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Veralto by 31.5% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 6,150,388 shares of the company’s stock valued at $543,817,000 after acquiring an additional 1,472,304 shares during the period. Amundi increased its stake in shares of Veralto by 16.3% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 3,797,526 shares of the company’s stock worth $335,785,000 after purchasing an additional 531,478 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Veralto in the second quarter worth $235,200,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in shares of Veralto by 3.4% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,095,393 shares of the company’s stock worth $185,266,000 after purchasing an additional 69,578 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Veralto by 16.4% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,788,026 shares of the company’s stock valued at $158,063,000 after purchasing an additional 252,267 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

Veralto Company Profile

Veralto Corporation (NYSE: VLTO) is a global provider of technology, products and services that help customers manage water quality and improve the quality, safety and efficiency of packaged goods. The company serves municipal, industrial, commercial and consumer-facing markets through a portfolio of operating businesses.

Veralto’s Water Quality segment provides instruments, software and services used to test, monitor and treat water and wastewater. Its brands include Hach, Trojan Technologies and ChemTreat, which support applications such as laboratory and field testing, disinfection, water treatment and industrial water management.

The company’s Product Quality & Innovation segment supplies technologies used in product identification, packaging design, color management and quality inspection.