First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Grows Holdings in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its position in shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 4.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 7,340 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 339 shares during the quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in Fortive were worth $540,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in Fortive by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,191 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $237,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the period. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Fortive by 4.9% in the third quarter. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 3,505 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $260,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its stake in Fortive by 17.5% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,120 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $80,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. increased its stake in shares of Fortive by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 7,433 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $551,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Guinness Asset Management LTD raised its holdings in shares of Fortive by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 7,865 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $583,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Fortive

In other Fortive news, CAO Christopher M. Mulhall sold 8,994 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.17, for a total value of $739,036.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,564 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,689,743.88. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Fortive news, CFO Charles E. Mclaughlin sold 40,837 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.28, for a total value of $3,523,416.36. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 61,855 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,336,849.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Christopher M. Mulhall sold 8,994 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.17, for a total transaction of $739,036.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,564 shares in the company, valued at $1,689,743.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 63,937 shares of company stock valued at $5,475,122. Corporate insiders own 0.95% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FTV has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Mizuho raised their target price on Fortive from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Fortive from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $95.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Fortive from $93.00 to $83.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Truist Financial initiated coverage on shares of Fortive in a report on Thursday, March 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $99.00 price objective for the company. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $86.46.

Fortive Stock Down 0.0 %

FTV stock opened at $76.08 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $82.94 and its 200 day moving average is $76.18. The stock has a market cap of $26.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a current ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. Fortive Co. has a 1-year low of $63.05 and a 1-year high of $87.10.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The technology company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.04. Fortive had a net margin of 14.68% and a return on equity of 12.22%. The firm had revenue of $1.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.53 billion. Sell-side analysts predict that Fortive Co. will post 3.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 31st will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 31st. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.65%.

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.