Securian Asset Management Inc. Cuts Holdings in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Securian Asset Management Inc. lessened its stake in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 3.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 18,646 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 730 shares during the period. Securian Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Fortive were worth $1,398,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in Fortive by 8.9% in the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 10,704 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $803,000 after buying an additional 876 shares in the last quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp grew its stake in Fortive by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 584,627 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $43,847,000 after buying an additional 14,683 shares in the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its stake in Fortive by 57.5% in the 4th quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 4,791 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $359,000 after buying an additional 1,749 shares in the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in Fortive in the 4th quarter worth approximately $17,750,000. Finally, Amundi grew its stake in Fortive by 22.4% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,785,483 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $137,036,000 after buying an additional 326,652 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on FTV shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Fortive from $77.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Argus restated a “hold” rating on shares of Fortive in a report on Monday, November 18th. Citigroup lowered shares of Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $92.00 to $86.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Fortive from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.64.

Fortive Trading Up 2.8 %

NYSE:FTV opened at $73.83 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $78.81 and a 200 day moving average of $76.80. Fortive Co. has a 52 week low of $66.15 and a 52 week high of $87.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.16.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 7th. The technology company reported $1.17 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.05. Fortive had a net margin of 13.36% and a return on equity of 13.15%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Fortive Co. will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Charles E. Mclaughlin sold 32,085 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.86, for a total value of $2,530,223.10. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 76,126 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,003,296.36. This represents a 29.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Christopher M. Mulhall sold 6,493 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.95, for a total transaction of $519,115.35. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,283 shares in the company, valued at $1,941,425.85. This represents a 21.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 243,385 shares of company stock worth $19,508,529. 1.01% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Fortive 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.