Caprock Group LLC Sells 954 Shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Caprock Group LLC lowered its stake in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 11.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,504 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 954 shares during the quarter. Caprock Group LLC’s holdings in Fortive were worth $592,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its stake in Fortive by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 3,899 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $308,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. RDA Financial Network boosted its holdings in shares of Fortive by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. RDA Financial Network now owns 4,191 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $311,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Fortive by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 18,507 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,371,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. Andina Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Fortive by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Andina Capital Management LLC now owns 4,433 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $328,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Axiom Advisory LLC raised its position in Fortive by 1.6% in the third quarter. Axiom Advisory LLC now owns 10,048 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $734,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on FTV shares. Barclays reduced their price target on Fortive from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Argus reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Fortive in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Wolfe Research cut shares of Fortive from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Mizuho upgraded Fortive from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $80.00 to $90.00 in a report on Friday, September 6th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Fortive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fortive presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.82.

Fortive Stock Performance

Shares of FTV stock opened at $78.42 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $75.85 and a 200-day moving average of $74.18. The company has a market cap of $27.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.13. 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 Co. has a 52 week low of $66.15 and a 52 week high of $87.10.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The technology company reported $0.97 EPS 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.55 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.85 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Fortive Co. will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 12.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fortive news, CFO Charles E. Mclaughlin sold 6,864 shares of Fortive 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 73,391 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,433,135.73. This trade represents a 8.55 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Jonathan L. Schwarz sold 14,223 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.80, for a total value of $1,049,657.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 68,161 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,030,281.80. This represents a 17.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 197,895 shares of company stock worth $14,261,051. Corporate insiders own 1.01% of the company’s stock.

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.