Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) Shares Sold by Blue Trust Inc.

Blue Trust Inc. cut its stake in shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 36.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,129 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 649 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Fortive were worth $85,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. First Hawaiian Bank grew its stake in shares of Fortive by 197.0% during the 4th quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 15,264 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,145,000 after purchasing an additional 10,125 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Fortive by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 406,085 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $32,052,000 after purchasing an additional 10,795 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Fortive by 26.4% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 37,502 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,832,000 after purchasing an additional 7,829 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Fortive during the 3rd quarter worth $1,346,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Fortive by 23.9% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,574,289 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $118,292,000 after purchasing an additional 303,788 shares during the period. 94.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fortive Stock Down 2.2 %

Shares of NYSE:FTV opened at $80.03 on Monday. 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 Co. has a 52-week low of $66.15 and a 52-week high of $87.10. The company has a 50 day moving average of $78.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $76.20. The company has a market capitalization of $27.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.15.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 7th. The technology company reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Fortive Co. will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. Fortive’s payout ratio is currently 13.56%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on FTV. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Fortive from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $92.00 to $86.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Fortive from $77.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Fortive from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Fortive currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.64.

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.