Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) Plans $0.08 Quarterly Dividend

Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 3rd, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be paid a dividend of 0.08 per share by the technology company on Friday, June 27th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%.

Fortive has raised its dividend by an average of 4.6% per year over the last three years. Fortive has a payout ratio of 7.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Fortive to earn $4.38 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.32 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 7.3%.

Fortive Stock Down 9.1 %

Shares of NYSE:FTV traded down $6.75 during trading on Thursday, hitting $67.54. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,209,026 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,524,200. Fortive has a fifty-two week low of $66.15 and a fifty-two week high of $85.79. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $77.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $76.98. 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 capitalization of $22.98 billion, a PE ratio of 28.62, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.16.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last announced 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 business posted $0.98 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Fortive will post 4.05 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FTV has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised 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. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Fortive from $77.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Fortive from $92.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. StockNews.com downgraded Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Citigroup cut Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $92.00 to $86.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Fortive currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.18.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortive

In related news, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 3,002 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.05, for a total value of $237,308.10. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 42,373 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,349,585.65. This represents a 6.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James A. Lico sold 196,117 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.38, for a total value of $15,763,884.46. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 528,851 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,509,043.38. This trade represents a 27.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 243,385 shares of company stock valued at $19,508,529. 1.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortive

An institutional investor recently raised its position in Fortive stock. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 97.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,706 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 2,811 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Fortive were worth $428,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

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.