Defender Capital LLC. Acquires New Position in Veralto Corporation $VLTO

Defender Capital LLC. bought a new position in shares of Veralto Corporation (NYSE:VLTO) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 203,103 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,266,000. Veralto comprises about 6.6% of Defender Capital LLC.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Defender Capital LLC. owned approximately 0.08% of Veralto at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of VLTO. Root Financial Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Veralto in the third quarter worth $27,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P purchased a new stake in shares of Veralto during the second quarter valued at $28,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Veralto in the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new position in shares of Veralto in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC raised its stake in Veralto by 852.9% in the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 324 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 290 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

Veralto Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:VLTO opened at $87.07 on Thursday. Veralto Corporation has a 12-month low of $83.86 and a 12-month high of $110.11. The company has a market capitalization of $21.58 billion, a PE ratio of 23.22, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.89. The business has a 50 day moving average of $94.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $99.53. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.41 billion. Veralto had a net margin of 17.08% and a return on equity of 35.77%. The business’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.95 EPS. Veralto has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.100-4.200 EPS and its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.970-1.010 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Veralto Corporation will post 3.66 EPS for the current year.

Veralto Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 31st. Veralto’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.87%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus set a $118.00 price target on Veralto in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Veralto in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. UBS Group set a $102.00 target price on Veralto and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $117.00 target price on shares of Veralto in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Veralto from $111.00 to $104.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Veralto currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $108.22.

Veralto 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. This segment provides water solutions, including chemical reagents, services, and digital solutions.