Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $87.82.

A number of research firms have recently commented on FTV. Argus reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Fortive in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Mizuho raised Fortive from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $80.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Fortive from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Raymond James raised shares of Fortive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Fortive from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st.

Insider Activity at Fortive

In other news, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 171,808 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.71, for a total value of $12,320,351.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 42,651 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,058,503.21. The trade was a 80.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Charles E. Mclaughlin sold 6,864 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.03, for a total value of $508,141.92. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 73,391 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,433,135.73. This trade represents a 8.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 197,895 shares of company stock valued at $14,261,051 in the last 90 days. 1.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortive

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of FTV. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Fortive by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,191,915 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $644,346,000 after buying an additional 46,704 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in shares of Fortive by 13.8% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 8,041,324 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $634,701,000 after acquiring an additional 977,428 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its stake in shares of Fortive by 14,635.7% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 4,000,000 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $315,720,000 after purchasing an additional 3,972,855 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in shares of Fortive by 3.1% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,444,205 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $271,851,000 after purchasing an additional 103,530 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Fortive by 8.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,668,448 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $197,726,000 after purchasing an additional 205,893 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Fortive Stock Down 0.3 %

FTV opened at $78.89 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $27.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.14. 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 business has a 50 day moving average price of $76.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $74.30. Fortive has a twelve month low of $66.15 and a twelve month high of $87.10.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The technology company reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.04. The business 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%. Fortive’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.85 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Fortive will post 3.85 EPS for the current year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Fortive’s payout ratio is presently 12.75%.

Fortive Company 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.