Fortive (NYSE:FTV) Earns Neutral Rating from Analysts at UBS Group

UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Fortive (NYSE:FTV) in a report issued on Wednesday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage issued a neutral rating and a $84.00 price target on the technology company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on FTV. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Fortive from $90.00 to $89.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Raymond James upgraded Fortive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on Fortive from $85.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Mizuho upgraded Fortive from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $80.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on Fortive from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.82.

Fortive Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE FTV opened at $74.82 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $75.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $74.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.25. The firm has a market cap of $25.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.13. Fortive has a 1 year low of $66.15 and a 1 year high of $87.10.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The technology company reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.04. Fortive had a return on equity of 12.56% and a net margin of 14.35%. The business had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.55 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.85 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Fortive will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 171,808 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.71, for a total transaction of $12,320,351.68. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 42,651 shares in the company, valued at $3,058,503.21. This trade represents a 80.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Jonathan L. Schwarz sold 14,223 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.80, for a total value of $1,049,657.40. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 68,161 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,030,281.80. The trade was a 17.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 197,895 shares of company stock valued at $14,261,051 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.01% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortive

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Fortive by 0.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,191,915 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $644,346,000 after buying an additional 46,704 shares in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Fortive by 24.9% during the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 3,761 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $284,000 after acquiring an additional 750 shares in the last quarter. Geller Advisors LLC bought a new position in Fortive during the third quarter worth $206,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Fortive by 4.7% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 144,409 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $11,398,000 after purchasing an additional 6,515 shares during the period. Finally, Headinvest LLC increased its stake in Fortive by 3.7% during the third quarter. Headinvest LLC now owns 36,467 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,878,000 after purchasing an additional 1,290 shares during the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.