Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Grows Stock Position in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 0.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 618,770 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,145 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Veralto were worth $63,022,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in VLTO. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Veralto by 34.6% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,923,747 shares of the company’s stock worth $400,928,000 after buying an additional 1,009,170 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in Veralto by 9.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,599,499 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,074,654,000 after buying an additional 860,608 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Veralto by 207.2% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,122,898 shares of the company’s stock valued at $125,608,000 after acquiring an additional 757,389 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Veralto by 10.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,868,620 shares of the company’s stock worth $654,232,000 after acquiring an additional 558,393 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its stake in shares of Veralto by 628.4% in the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 579,261 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,998,000 after acquiring an additional 499,735 shares in the last quarter. 91.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Veralto Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:VLTO opened at $98.87 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $24.45 billion, a PE ratio of 29.60, a P/E/G ratio of 4.21 and a beta of 1.06. Veralto Co. has a fifty-two week low of $81.23 and a fifty-two week high of $115.00. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $102.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $106.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last posted its 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 return on equity of 49.29% and a net margin of 16.04%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Veralto Co. will post 3.63 EPS for the current year.

Veralto Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. This is an increase from Veralto’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Veralto’s payout ratio is 13.17%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Veralto in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price objective on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Veralto from $116.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup reduced their price objective 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, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price 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. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $112.55.

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.