Brokerages Set Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) Target Price at $88.20

Shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $88.20.

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on FTV shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Fortive from $82.00 to $77.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Fortive in a report on Friday, September 6th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $89.00 price target for the company. Mizuho upgraded Fortive from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $80.00 to $90.00 in a report on Friday, September 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Fortive from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $90.00 to $92.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Raymond James upgraded Fortive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 5th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 171,808 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.71, for a total value of $12,320,351.68. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 42,651 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,058,503.21. 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 is accessible through the SEC website. In other Fortive news, CFO Charles E. Mclaughlin sold 6,864 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 73,391 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,433,135.73. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 171,808 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.71, for a total transaction of $12,320,351.68. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 42,651 shares in the company, valued at $3,058,503.21. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 192,895 shares of company stock worth $13,878,151 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.01% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortive

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Fortive during the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fortive in the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Fortive in the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in Fortive during the 2nd quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Fortive in the first quarter valued at $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Fortive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FTV opened at $75.20 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.13. Fortive has a 52 week low of $64.99 and a 52 week high of $87.10. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $75.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $74.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The technology company reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.04. Fortive had a net margin of 14.35% and a return on equity of 12.56%. The business had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.55 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.85 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Fortive will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.75%.

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.