Fortive (NYSE:FTV) Cut to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Fortive (NYSE:FTV) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday.

FTV has been the topic of several other research reports. 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 target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price 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. Citigroup cut shares of Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $92.00 to $86.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Fortive from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on Fortive from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $86.45.

Fortive Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of FTV stock opened at $79.00 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $27.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.14. Fortive has a 12-month low of $66.15 and a 12-month high of $87.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $76.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $74.82.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The technology company reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.04. Fortive had a return on equity of 12.56% and a net margin of 14.35%. The business had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.55 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.85 EPS. Fortive’s revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Fortive will post 3.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. Fortive’s payout ratio is presently 12.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 171,808 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was 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 directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 5,000 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 48,346 shares in the company, valued at $3,702,336.68. This trade represents a 9.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Fortive by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 3,899 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $308,000 after buying an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital raised its holdings in Fortive by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 3,346 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $252,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC boosted its position in Fortive by 1.7% during the third quarter. Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC now owns 8,854 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $699,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Andina Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Fortive by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Andina Capital Management LLC now owns 4,585 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $362,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Axiom Advisory LLC raised its position in Fortive by 1.6% during the third quarter. Axiom Advisory LLC now owns 10,048 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $734,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.94% 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.