Wells Fargo & Company Lowers Fortive (NYSE:FTV) Price Target to $84.00

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) had its price objective reduced by equities research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $92.00 to $84.00 in a research note issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “equal weight” rating on the technology company’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective suggests a potential upside of 11.38% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on FTV. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Fortive from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Barclays lifted their price target on Fortive from $89.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Citigroup lifted their price target on Fortive from $90.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Fortive from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $95.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Fortive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.46.

Fortive Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE FTV traded down $0.63 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $75.42. The company had a trading volume of 450,666 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,662,070. The stock has a market cap of $26.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.84, a PEG ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.13. Fortive has a 12 month low of $62.70 and a 12 month high of $87.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 2.05 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $84.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $76.13.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The technology company reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.04. Fortive had a return on equity of 12.12% and a net margin of 14.27%. The firm had revenue of $1.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.53 billion. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Fortive will post 3.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Fortive

In related news, CAO Christopher M. Mulhall sold 8,994 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.17, for a total transaction of $739,036.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,564 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,689,743.88. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Tamara S. Newcombe sold 5,000 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.00, for a total value of $425,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 55,017 shares in the company, valued at $4,676,445. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Christopher M. Mulhall sold 8,994 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.17, for a total value of $739,036.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,564 shares in the company, valued at $1,689,743.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 63,937 shares of company stock valued at $5,475,122 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.95% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortive

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FTV. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Fortive in the fourth quarter worth about $268,686,000. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its stake in Fortive by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 7,577,474 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $557,929,000 after acquiring an additional 878,523 shares during the period. Panagora Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Fortive by 15,382.4% during the fourth quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 634,778 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $46,739,000 after acquiring an additional 630,678 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in Fortive by 111.7% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,176,655 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $86,637,000 after acquiring an additional 620,866 shares during the period. Finally, Kodai Capital Management LP bought a new position in Fortive during the fourth quarter valued at about $45,557,000. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.