Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 4.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 73,458 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 3,617 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Fortive were worth $5,509,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. First Hawaiian Bank increased its holdings in Fortive by 197.0% during the fourth quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 15,264 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,145,000 after buying an additional 10,125 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Fortive by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 406,085 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $32,052,000 after purchasing an additional 10,795 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Fortive by 26.4% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 37,502 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,832,000 after purchasing an additional 7,829 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in Fortive in the 3rd quarter worth $1,346,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Fortive by 23.9% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,574,289 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $118,292,000 after purchasing an additional 303,788 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Christopher M. Mulhall sold 6,493 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,283 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,941,425.85. This represents a 21.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 5,688 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.52, for a total value of $457,997.76. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 47,141 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,795,793.32. This represents a 10.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 243,385 shares of company stock valued at $19,508,529. 1.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on FTV shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Fortive from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Fortive from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Fortive in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $84.00 price target for the company. Argus restated a “hold” rating on shares of Fortive in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Citigroup downgraded shares of Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $92.00 to $86.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.64.

Fortive Stock Down 0.4 %

FTV opened at $73.87 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $25.14 billion, a PE ratio of 31.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.16. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $78.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $76.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Fortive Co. has a 52 week low of $66.15 and a 52 week high of $87.10.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last announced its quarterly 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 quarter last year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Fortive Co. will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.56%.

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.