Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) Receives $87.18 Consensus PT from Brokerages

Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $87.18.

FTV has been the topic of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Citigroup cut shares of Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $92.00 to $86.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Fortive from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Truist Financial increased their price target on Fortive from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on Fortive from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 26th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortive

In other news, CEO James A. Lico sold 196,117 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.38, for a total value of $15,763,884.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 528,851 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,509,043.38. This represents a 27.05 % 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, CAO Christopher M. Mulhall sold 6,493 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.95, for a total value of $519,115.35. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,283 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,941,425.85. This represents a 21.10 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 243,385 shares of company stock valued at $19,508,529 over the last 90 days. 1.01% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortive

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Fortive by 9.7% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 42,947,135 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,221,036,000 after acquiring an additional 3,810,997 shares during the last quarter. Flossbach Von Storch SE increased its holdings in shares of Fortive by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Flossbach Von Storch SE now owns 11,903,240 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $892,743,000 after purchasing an additional 137,479 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Fortive by 164.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,730,161 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $654,763,000 after buying an additional 5,429,566 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Fortive by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,294,930 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $620,480,000 after buying an additional 103,015 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners grew its holdings in Fortive by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 7,904,282 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $594,108,000 after buying an additional 166,123 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Fortive Stock Performance

Shares of FTV stock opened at $64.00 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $21.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.16. Fortive has a one year low of $63.26 and a one year high of $84.96. The company’s 50-day moving average is $77.39 and its 200 day moving average is $76.87.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 7th. The technology company reported $1.17 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.05. Fortive had a net margin of 13.36% and a return on equity of 13.15%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Fortive will post 4.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. Fortive’s payout ratio is 13.56%.

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.