Stock Buyback Plan Announced by Fortive (NYSE:FTV)

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, May 27th, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase 15,630,000 shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FTV has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Fortive from $73.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Fortive from $84.00 to $69.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Fortive from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Fortive from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $67.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fortive presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.92.

Fortive Stock Up 1.6%

Shares of Fortive stock opened at $70.80 on Wednesday. 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 has a 52-week low of $60.39 and a 52-week high of $83.32. The company has a market capitalization of $24.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a 50 day moving average of $69.30 and a 200 day moving average of $74.77.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85. The business had revenue of $1.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.49 billion. Fortive had a net margin of 13.36% and a return on equity of 13.15%. The company’s revenue was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.83 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Fortive will post 4.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. Fortive’s payout ratio is 14.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Charles E. Mclaughlin sold 32,085 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.86, for a total transaction of $2,530,223.10. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 76,126 shares in the company, valued at $6,003,296.36. This trade represents a 29.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO James A. Lico sold 175,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.40, for a total value of $12,670,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 428,585 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,029,554. The trade was a 28.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 224,414 shares of company stock worth $16,496,010 over the last 90 days. 1.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.