Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $87.82.

FTV has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Mizuho upgraded Fortive from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $80.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Friday, September 6th. UBS Group initiated coverage on Fortive in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $84.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Fortive from $85.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on Fortive in a research note on Friday, September 6th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $89.00 price objective for the company. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Fortive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th.

Fortive Trading Up 0.0 %

Fortive stock opened at $79.33 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $76.23 and a two-hundred day moving average of $74.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.25. Fortive has a one year low of $66.15 and a one year high of $87.10. The stock has a market cap of $27.52 billion, a PE ratio of 31.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.13.

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

Fortive Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Fortive news, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 171,808 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,058,503.21. This trade represents a 80.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.58, for a total value of $382,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 48,346 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,702,336.68. The trade was a 9.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 197,895 shares of company stock valued at $14,261,051 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Fortive

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Fortive by 0.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,191,915 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $644,346,000 after purchasing an additional 46,704 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in Fortive by 13.8% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 8,041,324 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $634,701,000 after purchasing an additional 977,428 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its position in shares of Fortive by 14,635.7% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 4,000,000 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $315,720,000 after acquiring an additional 3,972,855 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of Fortive by 3.1% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,444,205 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $271,851,000 after acquiring an additional 103,530 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Fortive by 8.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,668,448 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $197,726,000 after acquiring an additional 205,893 shares in the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.