Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) Shares Purchased by NEOS Investment Management LLC

NEOS Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 31.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 20,866 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 4,977 shares during the period. NEOS Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Fortive were worth $1,565,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Fortive by 1,005.9% in the third quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,937,153 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $152,899,000 after purchasing an additional 1,761,983 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in shares of Fortive by 13.8% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 8,041,324 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $634,701,000 after buying an additional 977,428 shares in the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Fortive by 1,014.1% in the 3rd 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 period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Fortive by 28.4% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,695,319 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $127,149,000 after acquiring an additional 374,837 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi increased its stake in shares of Fortive by 22.4% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,785,483 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $137,036,000 after acquiring an additional 326,652 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FTV has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Fortive from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Barclays decreased their target price on Fortive from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup cut shares of Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $92.00 to $86.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Fortive from $92.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fortive currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.18.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO James A. Lico sold 196,117 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,509,043.38. This trade represents a 27.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Charles E. Mclaughlin sold 32,085 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.86, for a total value of $2,530,223.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 76,126 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,003,296.36. The trade was a 29.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 243,385 shares of company stock worth $19,508,529 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.01% of the company’s stock.

Fortive Stock Down 2.7 %

Shares of NYSE:FTV opened at $72.57 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $78.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $76.97. Fortive Co. has a 52 week low of $66.15 and a 52 week high of $85.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.16. The company has a market cap of $24.69 billion, a PE ratio of 30.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.16.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 7th. The technology company reported $1.17 earnings per share (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 period last year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Fortive Co. will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.