Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the fourteen ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $87.82.

FTV has been the topic of several recent research reports. Argus restated a “hold” rating on shares of Fortive in a report on Monday, November 18th. Wolfe Research lowered Fortive from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Fortive from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $90.00 to $92.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Fortive from $82.00 to $77.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Raymond James upgraded Fortive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 5th.

Fortive Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of FTV opened at $79.33 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.13. Fortive has a 1 year low of $66.15 and a 1 year high of $87.10. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $76.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $74.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The technology company reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.55 billion. Fortive had a return on equity of 12.56% and a net margin of 14.35%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.85 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Fortive will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.75%.

Insider Transactions at Fortive

In other news, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 171,808 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 42,651 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,058,503.21. This represents a 80.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.58, for a total value of $382,900.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 48,346 shares in the company, valued at $3,702,336.68. The trade was a 9.37 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 197,895 shares of company stock valued at $14,261,051. 1.01% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortive

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its stake in shares of Fortive by 14,635.7% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 4,000,000 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $315,720,000 after purchasing an additional 3,972,855 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Fortive by 1,005.9% during the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,937,153 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $152,899,000 after purchasing an additional 1,761,983 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in shares of Fortive by 13.8% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 8,041,324 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $634,701,000 after purchasing an additional 977,428 shares during the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Fortive by 1,014.1% during the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 924,671 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $72,984,000 after purchasing an additional 841,671 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in shares of Fortive by 59.3% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,359,069 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $107,271,000 after purchasing an additional 505,882 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.