Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Grows Stock Position in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. increased its stake in shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 72.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 12,820 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 5,387 shares during the quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in Fortive were worth $944,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTV. CWM LLC grew its stake in shares of Fortive by 7.7% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 5,857 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $434,000 after buying an additional 417 shares in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Fortive by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 6,499 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $482,000 after purchasing an additional 324 shares during the last quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fortive in the 3rd quarter valued at about $267,000. Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fortive in the 3rd quarter valued at about $630,000. Finally, Czech National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Fortive by 47.0% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 61,527 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,563,000 after purchasing an additional 19,674 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on FTV shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Fortive from $92.00 to $84.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Mizuho upped their price objective on Fortive from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Fortive from $101.00 to $98.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Barclays upped their price objective on Fortive from $89.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial started coverage on Fortive in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $99.00 price objective for the company. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fortive currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $86.46.

Fortive Stock Performance

FTV opened at $75.97 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $26.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $83.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $76.13. Fortive Co. has a 1-year low of $62.77 and a 1-year high of $87.10.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The technology company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.53 billion. Fortive had a return on equity of 12.22% and a net margin of 14.68%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Fortive Co. will post 3.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 31st. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.65%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortive

In related news, CAO Christopher M. Mulhall sold 8,994 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.17, for a total value of $739,036.98. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,564 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,689,743.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, CAO Christopher M. Mulhall sold 8,994 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 20,564 shares in the company, valued at $1,689,743.88. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 9,106 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.50, for a total value of $787,669.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 36,558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,162,267. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 63,937 shares of company stock worth $5,475,122. 0.95% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.