Fortive (NYSE:FTV) Upgraded at Melius Research

Melius Research upgraded shares of Fortive (NYSE:FTV) to a hold rating in a research note released on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on FTV. Citigroup cut their target price on Fortive from $84.00 to $69.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Truist Financial cut their target price on Fortive from $90.00 to $81.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Raymond James Financial cut their target price on Fortive from $90.00 to $65.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Mizuho cut their target price on Fortive from $85.00 to $65.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on Fortive from $86.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $69.36.

Fortive Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of FTV opened at $51.03 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $63.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $70.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.99. The company has a market capitalization of $17.34 billion, a PE ratio of 22.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 1.09. Fortive has a fifty-two week low of $49.66 and a fifty-two week high of $83.32.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.85. The company 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%. Fortive’s revenue was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.83 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Fortive will post 4.05 EPS for the current year.

Fortive announced that its Board of Directors has authorized 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 purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO James A. Lico sold 175,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.40, for a total transaction of $12,670,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 428,585 shares in the company, valued at $31,029,554. This trade represents a 28.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 14,327 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.88, for a total value of $1,058,478.76. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 51,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,823,290. This represents a 21.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.92% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Fortive

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of FTV. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in shares of Fortive by 97.1% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 5,706 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $428,000 after purchasing an additional 2,811 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in shares of Fortive by 184.1% during the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 51,916 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,894,000 after purchasing an additional 33,642 shares during the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Fortive during the fourth quarter worth about $347,000. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Fortive by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 19,603 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,470,000 after purchasing an additional 695 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financial Counselors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Fortive by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 172,903 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $12,968,000 after purchasing an additional 4,447 shares during the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.