Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC Buys 918 Shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 19.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,609 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 918 shares during the quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC’s holdings in Fortive were worth $413,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of FTV. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Fortive by 1.0% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 19,092,535 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,415,902,000 after purchasing an additional 181,948 shares during the period. Flossbach Von Storch AG boosted its holdings in shares of Fortive by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Flossbach Von Storch AG now owns 11,107,878 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $817,873,000 after purchasing an additional 512,414 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Fortive by 2.3% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,886,914 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $288,254,000 after purchasing an additional 85,560 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in shares of Fortive by 8.6% during the third quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 3,294,446 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $244,316,000 after purchasing an additional 260,404 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its holdings in shares of Fortive by 0.6% during the third quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,380,342 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $176,526,000 after purchasing an additional 14,400 shares during the period. 94.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Fortive Price Performance

FTV stock opened at $77.01 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $82.58 and a 200-day moving average price of $76.27. Fortive Co. has a 52-week low of $63.05 and a 52-week high of $87.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.44, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.50.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $1.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.53 billion. Fortive had a net margin of 14.68% and a return on equity of 12.22%. Equities research analysts forecast that Fortive Co. will post 3.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Fortive

In related news, CFO Charles E. Mclaughlin sold 40,837 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.28, for a total transaction of $3,523,416.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 61,855 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,336,849.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Fortive news, CEO Tamara S. Newcombe sold 5,000 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.00, for a total value of $425,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 55,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,676,445. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $3,523,416.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 61,855 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,336,849.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 63,937 shares of company stock valued at $5,475,122 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.95% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on FTV. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Fortive from $92.00 to $84.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Fortive from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $95.00 to $90.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Truist Financial started 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. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Fortive from $89.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $86.46.

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.