Citigroup Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) Stock

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) had its target price hoisted by Citigroup from $107.00 to $120.00 in a report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “neutral” rating on the stock. Citigroup‘s target price would indicate a potential upside of 3.22% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on VLTO. Wolfe Research began coverage on Veralto in a research report on Tuesday, September 15th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $125.00 price target for the company. Wall Street Zen cut Veralto from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 24th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Veralto from $104.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Veralto from $113.00 to $132.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $120.00 target price (up from $115.00) on shares of Veralto in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $119.50.

Veralto Stock Performance

Shares of VLTO stock traded up $5.16 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $116.26. 1,231,021 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,968,497. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 1.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.34 billion, a PE ratio of 28.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.62. Veralto has a 12 month low of $80.03 and a 12 month high of $116.10. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $98.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $93.13.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The company reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.09 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.50 billion. Veralto had a return on equity of 35.54% and a net margin of 17.27%. Veralto’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.99 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Veralto will post 4.51 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Jennifer Honeycutt sold 7,098 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total value of $745,290.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 120,060 shares in the company, valued at $12,606,300. The trade was a 5.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Surekha Trivedi sold 986 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.05, for a total value of $95,691.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 8,565 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $831,233.25. This trade represents a 10.32% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.43% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Highland Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Veralto in the second quarter worth about $32,000. Provenance Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Veralto by 997.4% in the 3rd quarter. Provenance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 428 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 389 shares during the last quarter. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Veralto in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Latitude Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Veralto during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $47,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Veralto in the first quarter valued at $66,000. 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.