Vontier Co. (NYSE:VNT) Short Interest Down 18.6% in November

Vontier Co. (NYSE:VNT) was the target of a large decline in short interest in November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,370,000 shares, a decline of 18.6% from the October 31st total of 2,910,000 shares. Currently, 1.6% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 914,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.6 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vontier

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Covestor Ltd lifted its position in shares of Vontier by 37.1% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,461 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 395 shares in the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Vontier by 9.7% during the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 4,557 shares of the company’s stock worth $154,000 after acquiring an additional 404 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of Vontier by 10.9% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,171 shares of the company’s stock worth $141,000 after acquiring an additional 410 shares in the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Vontier by 3.3% during the second quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 13,129 shares of the company’s stock worth $502,000 after acquiring an additional 420 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its position in shares of Vontier by 6.2% during the second quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 7,729 shares of the company’s stock worth $295,000 after acquiring an additional 448 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.83% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on VNT shares. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Vontier from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Barclays boosted their price objective on Vontier from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Argus lowered Vontier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on Vontier from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Vontier currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.50.

Vontier Stock Performance

Vontier stock traded up $0.08 during trading on Friday, hitting $39.26. The stock had a trading volume of 675,918 shares, compared to its average volume of 934,433. Vontier has a 1 year low of $31.22 and a 1 year high of $45.62. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.10. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $36.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.72. The stock has a market cap of $5.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.25.

Vontier (NYSE:VNT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.04. Vontier had a return on equity of 45.48% and a net margin of 13.54%. The business had revenue of $750.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $729.23 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.73 earnings per share. Vontier’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Vontier will post 2.89 EPS for the current year.

Vontier Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.025 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $0.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.25%. Vontier’s payout ratio is 3.83%.

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.