Cerity Partners LLC Invests $442,000 in Vontier Co. (NYSE:VNT)

Cerity Partners LLC bought a new position in Vontier Co. (NYSE:VNT) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 12,796 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $442,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VNT. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Vontier by 25.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,493,831 shares of the company’s stock worth $417,229,000 after buying an additional 2,767,188 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management lifted its stake in shares of Vontier by 840.9% in the third quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 971,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,023,000 after buying an additional 867,800 shares in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Vontier in the third quarter worth approximately $17,059,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Vontier by 1.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,477,275 shares of the company’s stock valued at $509,477,000 after purchasing an additional 264,884 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Vontier by 51.1% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 633,592 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,591,000 after purchasing an additional 214,353 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 95.83% of the company’s stock.

Vontier Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE VNT opened at $40.78 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $42.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.44, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The stock has a market cap of $6.31 billion, a PE ratio of 16.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.31. Vontier Co. has a 1 year low of $26.23 and a 1 year high of $45.62.

Vontier (NYSE:VNT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $789.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $780.92 million. Vontier had a net margin of 12.18% and a return on equity of 60.00%. Vontier’s quarterly revenue was down 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.81 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Vontier Co. will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vontier Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 7th were paid a dividend of $0.025 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 6th. This represents a $0.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.25%. Vontier’s payout ratio is 4.15%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VNT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Vontier from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Vontier from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Vontier from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $37.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Vontier from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Argus upped their target price on shares of Vontier from $39.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $45.00.

Vontier Company Profile

Vontier Corporation provides mobility ecosystem solutions worldwide. The company operates through Mobility Technologies, Repair Solutions, and Environmental and Fueling Solutions segments. The Mobility Technologies segment provides digitally equipment solutions for mobility ecosystem, such as point-of-sale and payment systems, workflow automation, telematics, data analytics, software platform, and integrated solutions for alternative fuel dispensing.