Fifth Third Bancorp Sells 18,925 Shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Fifth Third Bancorp lowered its position in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 42.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 25,708 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 18,925 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Fortive were worth $1,928,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its stake 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 buying an additional 3,972,855 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in Fortive by 1,005.9% in the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,937,153 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $152,899,000 after acquiring an additional 1,761,983 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in Fortive by 13.8% during the 3rd 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 last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP increased its holdings in Fortive by 1,014.1% during the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 924,671 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $72,984,000 after purchasing an additional 841,671 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in Fortive by 59.3% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,359,069 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $107,271,000 after purchasing an additional 505,882 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Fortive Price Performance

Fortive stock opened at $79.75 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $77.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $75.10. Fortive Co. has a 12 month low of $66.15 and a 12 month high of $87.10. The company has a market cap of $27.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.77, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.55 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.85 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Fortive Co. will post 3.84 EPS for the current year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Fortive’s payout ratio is 12.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on FTV shares. Citigroup cut Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $92.00 to $86.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Fortive from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Fortive from $92.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Argus restated a “hold” rating on shares of Fortive in a report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Fortive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $86.45.

Insider Activity

In other Fortive news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 5,000 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.58, for a total transaction of $382,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 48,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,702,336.68. The trade was a 9.37 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 171,808 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was 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 directly owns 42,651 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,058,503.21. The trade was a 80.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 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.