Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the thirteen ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $86.45.

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Fortive from $92.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Fortive from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Argus reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Fortive in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Fortive from $85.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, UBS Group assumed coverage on Fortive in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $84.00 price objective for the company.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Fortive news, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 171,808 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 42,651 shares in the company, valued at $3,058,503.21. This trade represents a 80.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 5,000 shares of the business’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 value of $382,900.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 48,346 shares in the company, valued at $3,702,336.68. This trade represents 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 corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Fortive

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTV. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of Fortive in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in Fortive during the second quarter worth about $31,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. increased its position in Fortive by 71.0% during the third quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 424 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in Fortive by 186.8% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 456 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 297 shares during the period. Finally, Albion Financial Group UT acquired a new stake in shares of Fortive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Fortive Stock Performance

Shares of Fortive stock opened at $79.00 on Friday. Fortive has a 52 week low of $66.15 and a 52 week high of $87.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.25. The stock 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 firm has a fifty day moving average of $76.68 and a two-hundred day moving average of $74.81.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last released 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. The firm had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.55 billion. Fortive had a return on equity of 12.56% and a net margin of 14.35%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.85 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Fortive will post 3.84 EPS for the current year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

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

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.