River Road Asset Management LLC Reduces Position in Vontier Co. (NYSE:VNT)

River Road Asset Management LLC reduced its holdings in Vontier Co. (NYSE:VNT) by 4.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,984,102 shares of the company’s stock after selling 143,690 shares during the period. Vontier comprises 1.4% of River Road Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest position. River Road Asset Management LLC owned about 1.93% of Vontier worth $103,101,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in VNT. US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Vontier by 13.4% in the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 11,389 shares of the company’s stock valued at $289,000 after acquiring an additional 1,347 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Vontier by 15.0% in the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 41,549 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,054,000 after acquiring an additional 5,420 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Vontier by 38.4% in the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 113,425 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,880,000 after purchasing an additional 31,497 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lifted its stake in shares of Vontier by 10.5% in the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 61,959 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,573,000 after purchasing an additional 5,908 shares during the period. Finally, BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Vontier by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 14,668,635 shares of the company’s stock valued at $372,436,000 after purchasing an additional 228,497 shares during the period. 95.83% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Vontier Price Performance

VNT traded down $0.22 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $40.39. 596,761 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 782,395. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.44. The company has a market capitalization of $6.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.85, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.31. Vontier Co. has a 52-week low of $26.23 and a 52-week high of $45.62. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $36.38.

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

Vontier Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price 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 shares of Vontier from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Argus boosted their target price on shares of Vontier from $39.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Vontier from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Vontier from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $37.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $45.00.

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.