Verition Fund Management LLC Acquires 40,800 Shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Verition Fund Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 118.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 75,239 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 40,800 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC’s holdings in Fortive were worth $5,939,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of FTV. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Fortive during the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new stake in Fortive in the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Fortive in the second quarter worth $30,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fortive in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. increased its position in shares of Fortive by 71.0% in the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 424 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 176 shares in the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on FTV. Argus reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Fortive in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Fortive from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Fortive in a report on Friday, September 6th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $89.00 price target for the company. Raymond James raised shares of Fortive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Fortive from $90.00 to $89.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.82.

Fortive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FTV opened at $78.96 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The business has a 50-day moving average of $76.23 and a 200-day moving average of $74.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.46, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.13. Fortive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $66.15 and a fifty-two week high of $87.10.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The technology company reported $0.97 earnings per share 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 return on equity of 12.56% and a net margin of 14.35%. The business’s revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.85 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Fortive Co. will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other Fortive news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.58, for a total value of $382,900.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 48,346 shares in the company, valued at $3,702,336.68. The trade was a 9.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Charles E. Mclaughlin sold 6,864 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.03, for a total transaction of $508,141.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 73,391 shares in the company, valued at $5,433,135.73. The trade was a 8.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 197,895 shares of company stock valued at $14,261,051 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.01% of the company’s stock.

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.