Fortive (NYSE:FTV) Lowered to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Fortive (NYSE:FTV) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on FTV. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Fortive from $101.00 to $98.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Truist Financial assumed coverage on shares of Fortive in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. They set a buy rating and a $99.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Fortive from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and lowered their target price for the company from $95.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Vertical Research cut shares of Fortive from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. Finally, Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Fortive from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $86.46.

Fortive Stock Performance

Shares of FTV stock opened at $75.44 on Wednesday. Fortive has a one year low of $63.05 and a one year high of $87.10. The company’s 50-day moving average is $83.34 and its 200 day moving average is $76.14. The company has a market capitalization of $26.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.50.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The technology company reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.04. Fortive had a net margin of 14.68% and a return on equity of 12.22%. The company had revenue of $1.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.53 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that Fortive will post 3.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 31st. Fortive’s payout ratio is 12.65%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fortive news, CFO Charles E. Mclaughlin sold 40,837 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.28, for a total transaction of $3,523,416.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 61,855 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,336,849.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 9,106 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.50, for a total value of $787,669.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 36,558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,162,267. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Charles E. Mclaughlin sold 40,837 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.28, for a total transaction of $3,523,416.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 61,855 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,336,849.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 63,937 shares of company stock worth $5,475,122. Company insiders own 0.95% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FTV. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Fortive in the fourth quarter valued at $268,686,000. Brown Advisory Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Fortive by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 7,577,474 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $557,929,000 after purchasing an additional 878,523 shares in the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Fortive by 15,382.4% in the fourth quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 634,778 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $46,739,000 after purchasing an additional 630,678 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in Fortive by 111.7% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,176,655 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $86,637,000 after buying an additional 620,866 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kodai Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Fortive in the fourth quarter worth $45,557,000. 94.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.