SouthState Corp Has $1.12 Million Position in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

SouthState Corp lessened its position in shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,962 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 704 shares during the period. SouthState Corp’s holdings in Fortive were worth $1,122,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in FTV. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of Fortive by 1,005.9% in the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,937,153 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $152,899,000 after purchasing an additional 1,761,983 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in Fortive by 13.8% during the third 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. Holocene Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Fortive by 1,014.1% in the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 924,671 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $72,984,000 after acquiring an additional 841,671 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in shares of Fortive by 59.3% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,359,069 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $107,271,000 after purchasing an additional 505,882 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clarkston Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Fortive in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,930,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target 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. Citigroup downgraded Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $92.00 to $86.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Argus restated a “hold” rating on shares of Fortive in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Fortive from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their target price on Fortive from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.64.

Insider Activity at Fortive

In other news, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 5,688 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.52, for a total transaction of $457,997.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 47,141 shares in the company, valued at $3,795,793.32. This trade represents a 10.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James A. Lico sold 196,117 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.38, for a total transaction of $15,763,884.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 528,851 shares in the company, valued at $42,509,043.38. This represents a 27.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 243,385 shares of company stock valued at $19,508,529 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.01% of the company’s stock.

Fortive Trading Up 1.4 %

NYSE FTV opened at $74.71 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.16. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $78.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $76.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 0.91. Fortive Co. has a one year low of $66.15 and a one year high of $87.10.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last announced 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 quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.98 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Fortive Co. will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

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

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.