Fortive (NYSE:FTV) Cut to “Hold” at TD Cowen

TD Cowen cut shares of Fortive (NYSE:FTV) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Tuesday, MarketBeat reports. TD Cowen currently has $50.00 target price on the technology company’s stock, down from their prior target price of $85.00.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Fortive from $88.00 to $82.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Fortive from $72.00 to $55.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Fortive from $87.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Wall Street Zen raised Fortive to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, July 5th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on Fortive from $84.00 to $69.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $69.92.

Fortive Stock Performance

Fortive stock opened at $51.24 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $65.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $71.53. The company has a market capitalization of $17.42 billion, a PE ratio of 22.47, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.09. Fortive has a fifty-two week low of $50.00 and a fifty-two week high of $83.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.99.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.85. The firm had revenue of $1.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.49 billion. Fortive had a return on equity of 13.19% and a net margin of 12.90%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.83 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Fortive will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortive announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, May 27th that allows the company to buyback 15,630,000 shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Fortive

In other Fortive news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 14,327 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.88, for a total transaction of $1,058,478.76. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 51,750 shares in the company, valued at $3,823,290. This represents a 21.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO James A. Lico sold 175,000 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 428,585 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,029,554. This represents a 28.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.92% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of FTV. Parvin Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Fortive in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. American National Bank & Trust bought a new position in Fortive during the first quarter valued at about $26,000. Accent Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Fortive during the first quarter worth about $26,000. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. raised its position in Fortive by 114.2% in the first quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 377 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares during the period. Finally, Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Fortive in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

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.