New Hampshire Trust Acquires 372 Shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

New Hampshire Trust lifted its holdings in shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 2.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,181 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 372 shares during the quarter. New Hampshire Trust’s holdings in Fortive were worth $1,064,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in Fortive during the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Fortive during the 2nd quarter worth $31,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. increased its position in shares of Fortive by 71.0% in the third quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 424 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in Fortive by 186.8% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 456 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 297 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new stake in Fortive during the third quarter worth about $41,000. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortive

In other news, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 171,808 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.71, for a total value of $12,320,351.68. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 42,651 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,058,503.21. This represents a 80.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 5,000 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.58, for a total transaction of $382,900.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 48,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,702,336.68. This represents a 9.37 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.01% of the company’s stock.

Fortive Stock Performance

Fortive stock opened at $79.00 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $76.68 and a 200-day moving average of $74.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 0.99. Fortive Co. has a 1 year low of $66.15 and a 1 year high of $87.10. The company has a market capitalization of $27.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.14.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The technology company reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.04. Fortive had a net margin of 14.35% and a return on equity of 12.56%. The firm had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.55 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.85 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Fortive Co. will post 3.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th were given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.75%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on FTV. Citigroup lowered shares of Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $92.00 to $86.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Fortive from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Fortive from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Fortive from $85.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced 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. Seven equities 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, Fortive has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $86.45.

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.