LSV Asset Management Acquires 521,310 Shares of Vontier Co. (NYSE:VNT)

LSV Asset Management increased its holdings in shares of Vontier Co. (NYSE:VNT) by 53.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,492,310 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 521,310 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management owned approximately 0.97% of Vontier worth $51,559,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina grew its holdings in shares of Vontier by 0.5% during the third quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 68,343 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,113,000 after buying an additional 340 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. boosted its position in shares of Vontier by 1.8% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 27,747 shares of the company’s stock valued at $858,000 after buying an additional 494 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Vontier by 1.4% during the third quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 44,309 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,370,000 after buying an additional 603 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its holdings in Vontier by 13.4% during the fourth quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 5,353 shares of the company’s stock worth $185,000 after buying an additional 634 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its position in Vontier by 7.7% in the 4th quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 10,577 shares of the company’s stock valued at $360,000 after buying an additional 760 shares during the last quarter. 95.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VNT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Argus upped their target price on shares of Vontier from $39.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Vontier from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Vontier from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. UBS Group raised their target price on Vontier from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Vontier from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $37.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.00.

Vontier Price Performance

VNT stock traded down $0.91 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $39.44. 759,660 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 615,216. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $42.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $37.16. Vontier Co. has a 52-week low of $26.79 and a 52-week high of $45.62. The company has a market capitalization of $6.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.21, a current ratio of 1.57 and a quick ratio of 1.08.

Vontier (NYSE:VNT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $755.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $754.50 million. Vontier had a net margin of 14.02% and a return on equity of 54.84%. Vontier’s revenue was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.68 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Vontier Co. will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Vontier Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 7th were issued a $0.025 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 6th. This represents a $0.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.25%. Vontier’s payout ratio is currently 3.62%.

About Vontier

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.