Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Acquires 176 Shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 4.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 3,749 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 176 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Veralto were worth $382,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Veralto by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,347,185 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,989,011,000 after purchasing an additional 146,234 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Veralto by 9.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,599,499 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,074,654,000 after buying an additional 860,608 shares during the period. Amundi lifted its position in shares of Veralto by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 7,169,702 shares of the company’s stock valued at $731,084,000 after buying an additional 158,342 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Veralto by 10.5% during the 3rd 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 period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in Veralto by 34.6% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,923,747 shares of the company’s stock worth $400,928,000 after acquiring an additional 1,009,170 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 10,414 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.56, for a total value of $1,026,403.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 116,637 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,495,742.72. This trade represents a 8.20 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Melissa Aquino sold 463 shares of Veralto stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.60, for a total value of $46,114.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,761 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,067,795.60. This trade represents a 2.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 21,881 shares of company stock worth $2,176,770. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Veralto Stock Performance

NYSE VLTO opened at $98.05 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.69. Veralto Co. has a 1-year low of $85.91 and a 1-year high of $115.00. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $99.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $104.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.27 billion, a PE ratio of 29.35, a P/E/G ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 1.11.

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

Veralto Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Veralto’s payout ratio is 13.17%.

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.