Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Has $642,000 Position in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. cut its stake in shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 31.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,559 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 3,961 shares during the quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Fortive were worth $642,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of FTV. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Fortive by 8.9% in the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 10,704 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $803,000 after purchasing an additional 876 shares during the period. King Luther Capital Management Corp lifted its stake in shares of Fortive by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 584,627 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $43,847,000 after purchasing an additional 14,683 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its stake in shares of Fortive by 57.5% in the 4th quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 4,791 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $359,000 after purchasing an additional 1,749 shares during the period. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Fortive in the 4th quarter valued at about $17,750,000. Finally, Amundi lifted its stake in shares of Fortive by 22.4% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,785,483 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $137,036,000 after purchasing an additional 326,652 shares during the period. 94.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Charles E. Mclaughlin sold 32,085 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.86, for a total value of $2,530,223.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 76,126 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,003,296.36. This represents a 29.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 5,688 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.52, for a total value of $457,997.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 47,141 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,795,793.32. This represents a 10.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 243,385 shares of company stock valued at $19,508,529 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.01% of the company’s stock.

Fortive Stock Performance

Shares of FTV opened at $74.84 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.16. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $78.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $76.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.16. Fortive Co. has a 52 week low of $66.15 and a 52 week high of $87.10.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 7th. The technology company reported $1.17 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.05. Fortive had a return on equity of 13.15% and a net margin of 13.36%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Fortive Co. will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.56%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Fortive from $92.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Citigroup downgraded Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $92.00 to $86.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Barclays dropped their price target on Fortive from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Truist Financial upped their price target on Fortive from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.64.

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.