Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $87.64.

A number of research firms recently weighed in on FTV. Citigroup cut shares of Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $92.00 to $86.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Argus restated a “hold” rating on shares of Fortive in a research report on Monday, November 18th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Fortive from $92.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Fortive from $77.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Fortive news, CEO James A. Lico sold 196,117 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.38, for a total value of $15,763,884.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 528,851 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,509,043.38. This represents a 27.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 5,688 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.52, for a total transaction of $457,997.76. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 47,141 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,795,793.32. The trade was a 10.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 243,385 shares of company stock valued at $19,508,529 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortive

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in Fortive in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Parvin Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Fortive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Fortive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortive during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in shares of Fortive by 186.8% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 456 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 297 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Fortive Stock Performance

NYSE FTV opened at $73.83 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $25.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.28, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.16. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $78.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $76.85. Fortive has a twelve month low of $66.15 and a twelve month high of $87.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 7th. The technology company reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.05. Fortive had a net margin of 13.36% and a return on equity of 13.15%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Fortive will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.56%.

About Fortive

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.