Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 4.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 77,075 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 3,871 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Fortive were worth $6,083,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in Fortive in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Fortive in the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fortive during the second quarter worth approximately $30,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in Fortive in the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Fortive in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FTV has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Fortive from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Mizuho upgraded Fortive from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $80.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Friday, September 6th. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Fortive in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $84.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Fortive from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $90.00 to $92.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Raymond James upgraded shares of Fortive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.82.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were 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 directly owns 48,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,702,336.68. This trade represents a 9.37 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Charles E. Mclaughlin sold 6,864 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.03, for a total value of $508,141.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 73,391 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,433,135.73. The trade was a 8.55 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 197,895 shares of company stock worth $14,261,051. 1.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Fortive Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of FTV stock opened at $78.94 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The business’s 50 day moving average is $76.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $74.17. Fortive Co. has a twelve month low of $66.15 and a twelve month high of $87.10. The company has a market capitalization of $27.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.13.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The technology company reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.55 billion. Fortive had a net margin of 14.35% and a return on equity of 12.56%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.85 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Fortive Co. will post 3.85 EPS for the current year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.75%.

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.