ING Groep NV Sells 123,015 Shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

ING Groep NV cut its stake in shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 48.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 132,855 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 123,015 shares during the period. ING Groep NV’s holdings in Fortive were worth $10,486,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in Fortive in the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Fortive in the 1st quarter worth $32,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new position in Fortive during the second quarter valued at $30,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Fortive during the second quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Goodman Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in Fortive in the second quarter worth about $31,000. Institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Fortive Stock Performance

Fortive stock opened at $75.62 on Friday. Fortive Co. has a twelve month low of $66.15 and a twelve month high of $87.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $75.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $74.18. The company has a market cap of $26.24 billion, a PE ratio of 30.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.13.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The technology company reported $0.97 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.55 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.85 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Fortive Co. will post 3.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on FTV shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Fortive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Fortive in a research note on Friday, September 6th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $89.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group assumed coverage on Fortive in a research note on Wednesday. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $84.00 price target for the company. Mizuho upgraded Fortive from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $80.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Fortive from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $90.00 to $92.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.82.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.58, for a total value of $382,900.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 48,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,702,336.68. This represents a 9.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Jonathan L. Schwarz sold 14,223 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.80, for a total value of $1,049,657.40. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 68,161 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,030,281.80. This represents a 17.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 197,895 shares of company stock worth $14,261,051 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.01% of the company’s stock.

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.