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

Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $86.45.

A number of research firms have issued reports on FTV. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Fortive from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Fortive from $85.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup lowered shares of Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $92.00 to $86.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Fortive in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $84.00 price objective for the company.

Fortive Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE FTV opened at $79.00 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $76.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $74.81. Fortive has a 52 week low of $66.15 and a 52 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 firm has a market cap of $27.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.14.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last released 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 company had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.55 billion. Fortive had a net margin of 14.35% and a return on equity of 12.56%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.85 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Fortive will post 3.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th were issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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%.

Insider Activity at Fortive

In related news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 5,000 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.58, for a total transaction of $382,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 48,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,702,336.68. This trade represents a 9.37 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 171,808 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.71, for a total transaction 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. This trade represents a 80.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FTV. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in Fortive in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortive during the second quarter worth $31,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Fortive by 71.0% during the third quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 424 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 176 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in Fortive by 186.8% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 456 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 297 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Albion Financial Group UT acquired a new stake in Fortive in the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. 94.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.