Royal Bank of Canada Issues Positive Forecast for Fortive (NYSE:FTV) Stock Price

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) had its price target boosted by Royal Bank of Canada from $78.00 to $79.00 in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a sector perform rating on the technology company’s stock.

Several other analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Fortive from $88.00 to $82.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $86.00 target price (up from $84.00) on shares of Fortive in a report on Tuesday, June 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Fortive from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Fortive from $84.00 to $69.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $82.62.

Fortive Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of FTV stock opened at $73.12 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.11. Fortive has a 1 year low of $60.39 and a 1 year high of $83.32. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $68.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $74.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.85. The company had revenue of $1.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.49 billion. Fortive had a net margin of 13.36% and a return on equity of 13.15%. The business’s revenue was down 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.83 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Fortive will post 4.05 EPS for the current year.

Fortive declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, May 27th that allows the company to repurchase 15,630,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.04%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO James A. Lico sold 175,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 428,585 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,029,554. The trade was a 28.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 14,327 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.88, for a total value of $1,058,478.76. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 51,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,823,290. This represents a 21.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Fortive

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Fortive by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 42,947,135 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,221,036,000 after acquiring an additional 3,810,997 shares during the period. Dodge & Cox grew its holdings in shares of Fortive by 181.5% during the first quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 21,900,363 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,602,669,000 after buying an additional 14,120,456 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Fortive by 50.2% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 13,112,403 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $959,567,000 after buying an additional 4,382,242 shares in the last quarter. Flossbach Von Storch SE lifted its stake in Fortive by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Flossbach Von Storch SE now owns 11,903,240 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $892,743,000 after acquiring an additional 137,479 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Fortive by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,294,930 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $620,480,000 after acquiring an additional 103,015 shares in the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.