Fortive (NYSE:FTV) Rating 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 released on Friday.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on FTV. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Fortive from $85.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Fortive from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Citigroup lowered Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $92.00 to $86.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Barclays lowered their price target on Fortive from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Fortive from $92.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $86.45.

Fortive Stock Performance

NYSE:FTV opened at $79.00 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $76.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $74.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.47, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.14. 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 has a 1-year low of $66.15 and a 1-year high of $87.10.

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

Fortive Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortive

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Fortive by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,191,915 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $644,346,000 after buying an additional 46,704 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in Fortive by 13.8% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 8,041,324 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $634,701,000 after acquiring an additional 977,428 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its position in Fortive by 14,635.7% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 4,000,000 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $315,720,000 after acquiring an additional 3,972,855 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Fortive by 3.1% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,444,205 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $271,851,000 after acquiring an additional 103,530 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Fortive by 8.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,668,448 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $197,726,000 after purchasing an additional 205,893 shares during the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.