M&T Bank Corp Reduces Position in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO)

M&T Bank Corp decreased its position in Veralto Co. (NYSE:VLTO) by 3.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 70,998 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,913 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Veralto were worth $7,943,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VLTO. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its holdings in shares of Veralto by 32.9% in the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 243,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,256,000 after acquiring an additional 60,300 shares during the last quarter. Mirova US LLC boosted its holdings in Veralto by 2.2% in the second quarter. Mirova US LLC now owns 1,055,767 shares of the company’s stock valued at $100,794,000 after purchasing an additional 22,324 shares during the last quarter. Northstar Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Veralto by 22.5% in the third quarter. Northstar Asset Management Inc. now owns 78,326 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,762,000 after purchasing an additional 14,398 shares during the last quarter. Ecofi Investissements SA acquired a new stake in Veralto during the 2nd quarter worth about $7,019,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in shares of Veralto by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 163,227 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,259,000 after buying an additional 15,048 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

Veralto Trading Up 2.9 %

Shares of Veralto stock opened at $104.25 on Monday. Veralto Co. has a twelve month low of $73.91 and a twelve month high of $115.00. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $106.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $105.46. The company has a current ratio of 2.13, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.78 billion, a PE ratio of 32.18, a P/E/G ratio of 4.30 and a beta of 0.91.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.04. Veralto had a return on equity of 52.85% and a net margin of 15.69%. The business had revenue of $1.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.75 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Veralto Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Veralto Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. This is a positive change from Veralto’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Veralto’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.11%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on VLTO. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Veralto in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $125.00 target price on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Veralto from $117.00 to $119.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Veralto from $119.00 to $117.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Veralto from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $109.50.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 13,190 shares of Veralto stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.15, for a total transaction of $1,452,878.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 138,546 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,260,841.90. This trade represents a 8.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 753 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.55, for a total value of $84,750.15. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 11,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,256,620.75. The trade was a 6.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 14,695 shares of company stock worth $1,615,017 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

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.