Fortive (NYSE:FTV) Upgraded at StockNews.com

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) was upgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Thursday.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Fortive from $85.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group started coverage on Fortive in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $84.00 price objective for the company. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Fortive from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Citigroup downgraded Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $92.00 to $86.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Argus restated a “hold” rating on shares of Fortive in a report on Monday, November 18th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fortive has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $86.64.

Fortive Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE FTV opened at $76.80 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $26.65 billion, a PE ratio of 30.60, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.14. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $76.04 and a 200-day moving average of $74.62. Fortive has a 12 month low of $66.15 and a 12 month high of $87.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fortive news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 171,808 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.71, for a total value of $12,320,351.68. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 42,651 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,058,503.21. This represents a 80.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Fortive

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Fortive by 2,103.1% during the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 47,190 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,494,000 after buying an additional 45,048 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Fortive by 27.7% during the 2nd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 8,458 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $627,000 after purchasing an additional 1,835 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in Fortive in the second quarter worth approximately $35,000. Choreo LLC purchased a new position in shares of Fortive during the 2nd quarter worth $410,000. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its position in shares of Fortive by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 139,928 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $10,369,000 after acquiring an additional 720 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.94% 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.