MetLife Investment Management LLC Sells 2,771 Shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

MetLife Investment Management LLC reduced its position in shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 3.0% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 91,120 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 2,771 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Fortive were worth $7,192,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its position in Fortive by 14,635.7% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 4,000,000 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $315,720,000 after acquiring an additional 3,972,855 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in Fortive by 59.3% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,359,069 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $107,271,000 after purchasing an additional 505,882 shares in the last quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. grew its holdings in Fortive by 1,053.5% during the second quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 382,707 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $28,359,000 after purchasing an additional 349,530 shares during the period. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Fortive in the third quarter worth about $25,930,000. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Fortive by 27.4% in the second quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,269,103 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $94,041,000 after buying an additional 273,168 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Fortive Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of FTV opened at $79.33 on Friday. Fortive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $66.15 and a fifty-two week high of $87.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.25. The company’s fifty day moving average is $76.23 and its 200 day moving average is $74.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.52 billion, a PE ratio of 31.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.13.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The technology company reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.55 billion. Fortive had a net margin of 14.35% and a return on equity of 12.56%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.85 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Fortive Co. will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.75%.

Insider Transactions at Fortive

In other news, CFO Charles E. Mclaughlin sold 6,864 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.03, for a total transaction of $508,141.92. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 73,391 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,433,135.73. This represents a 8.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.58, for a total value of $382,900.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 48,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,702,336.68. This represents a 9.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 197,895 shares of company stock worth $14,261,051. 1.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on FTV. Truist Financial cut their price objective on Fortive from $90.00 to $89.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Raymond James upgraded shares of Fortive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. StockNews.com raised Fortive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. UBS Group started coverage on Fortive in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $84.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Argus reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Fortive in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.82.

Fortive Profile

Fortive Corporation designs, develops, manufactures, and services professional and engineered products, software, and services in the United States, China, and internationally. It operates in three segments: Intelligent Operating Solutions, Precision Technologies, and Advanced Healthcare Solutions. The Intelligent Operating Solutions segment provides advanced instrumentation, software, and services, including electrical test and measurement, facility and asset lifecycle software applications, and connected worker safety and compliance solutions for manufacturing, process industries, healthcare, utilities and power, communications and electronics, and other industries.