Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. Reduces Holdings in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. cut its position in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 2.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 8,991 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 179 shares during the quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc.’s holdings in Fortive were worth $674,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its stake in shares of Fortive by 16.0% during the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 14,487 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,074,000 after acquiring an additional 2,001 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its holdings in Fortive by 5.0% in the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 28,400 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,062,000 after purchasing an additional 1,349 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Fortive by 59.5% in the second quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 36,706 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,720,000 after purchasing an additional 13,699 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in Fortive by 6.6% during the 2nd quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,967 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $294,000 after purchasing an additional 247 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its holdings in Fortive by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,565,443 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $190,099,000 after purchasing an additional 94,170 shares during the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fortive Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE:FTV opened at $79.00 on Friday. Fortive Co. has a 12-month low of $66.15 and a 12-month high of $87.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $76.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $74.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.14.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The technology company reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.55 billion. Fortive had a net margin of 14.35% and a return on equity of 12.56%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.85 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Fortive Co. will post 3.84 EPS for the current year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FTV has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays reduced their target price on Fortive from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Fortive from $85.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Fortive in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $84.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Fortive from $92.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Fortive presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $86.45.

Insider Activity at Fortive

In other news, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 171,808 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.71, for a total value of $12,320,351.68. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 42,651 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,058,503.21. This represents a 80.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.58, for a total transaction of $382,900.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 48,346 shares in the company, valued at $3,702,336.68. This represents a 9.37 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.