Citigroup Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Fortive (NYSE:FTV) Stock Price

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) had its target price lowered by investment analysts at Citigroup from $84.00 to $69.00 in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “neutral” rating on the technology company’s stock. Citigroup’s price target indicates a potential upside of 4.95% from the company’s previous close.

FTV has been the topic of several other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Fortive from $90.00 to $73.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Fortive from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com cut shares of Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Fortive from $90.00 to $81.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on Fortive from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $81.92.

Fortive Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE FTV opened at $65.75 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Fortive has a 1-year low of $60.39 and a 1-year high of $83.32. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $74.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $76.11. The company has a market capitalization of $22.37 billion, a PE ratio of 27.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.12.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last issued its 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 return on equity of 13.15% and a net margin of 13.36%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Fortive will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Fortive

In related news, CEO James A. Lico sold 196,117 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.38, for a total transaction of $15,763,884.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 528,851 shares in the company, valued at $42,509,043.38. This represents a 27.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Christopher M. Mulhall sold 6,493 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.95, for a total transaction of $519,115.35. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,283 shares in the company, valued at $1,941,425.85. This represents a 21.10 % 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 worth $19,508,529 in the last 90 days. 1.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortive

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTV. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Fortive by 33.4% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 17,303 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,357,000 after purchasing an additional 4,333 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Fortive during the 3rd quarter worth about $12,031,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of Fortive during the 3rd quarter worth about $456,000. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Fortive by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 16,513 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,303,000 after acquiring an additional 829 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new stake in Fortive in the third quarter valued at about $854,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.94% 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.