Eastern Bank Invests $80,000 in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Eastern Bank acquired a new stake in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 1,015 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $80,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Fortive by 70.1% in the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 896,550 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $77,058,000 after purchasing an additional 369,351 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in Fortive by 104.3% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 369,076 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $31,748,000 after purchasing an additional 188,415 shares during the period. Atomi Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Fortive by 4.8% in the third quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,932 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $389,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in Fortive by 599.3% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 52,546 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,520,000 after purchasing an additional 45,032 shares during the period. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lifted its position in Fortive by 6.7% in the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 275,489 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $23,719,000 after purchasing an additional 17,225 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FTV has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Mizuho upgraded shares of Fortive from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $80.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Fortive in a report on Friday, September 6th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $89.00 target price for the company. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Fortive from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Raymond James raised shares of Fortive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Wolfe Research cut shares of Fortive from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.36.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Charles E. Mclaughlin sold 6,864 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.03, for a total transaction of $508,141.92. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 73,391 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,433,135.73. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Fortive news, CFO Charles E. Mclaughlin sold 6,864 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.03, for a total value of $508,141.92. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 73,391 shares in the company, valued at $5,433,135.73. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Jonathan L. Schwarz sold 14,223 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.80, for a total transaction of $1,049,657.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 68,161 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,030,281.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Fortive Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of FTV opened at $74.96 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $75.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $74.89. Fortive Co. has a 1-year low of $63.50 and a 1-year high of $87.10. The stock has a market cap of $26.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.12.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. Fortive had a net margin of 14.39% and a return on equity of 12.32%. The firm had revenue of $1.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.85 earnings per share. Fortive’s revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Fortive Co. will post 3.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 17th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 12.65%.

Fortive 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.