Royal Bank of Canada Trims Fortive (NYSE:FTV) Target Price to $83.00

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) had its price objective cut by Royal Bank of Canada from $93.00 to $83.00 in a report issued on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a sector perform rating on the technology company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on FTV. Barclays upped their price objective on Fortive from $89.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Mizuho upped their price objective on Fortive from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Truist Financial began coverage on Fortive in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. They set a buy rating and a $99.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Fortive from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $95.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Fortive from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $86.46.

Fortive Price Performance

Shares of FTV stock opened at $75.97 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $83.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $76.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.03, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.13. Fortive has a fifty-two week low of $62.77 and a fifty-two week high of $87.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.50.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The technology company reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.04. Fortive had a return on equity of 12.22% and a net margin of 14.68%. The business had revenue of $1.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.53 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Fortive will post 3.8 earnings per share 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 $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 31st. Fortive’s payout ratio is currently 12.65%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortive

In other 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 transaction of $739,036.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,564 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,689,743.88. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Tamara S. Newcombe sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.00, for a total transaction of $425,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 55,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,676,445. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Christopher M. Mulhall sold 8,994 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.17, for a total value of $739,036.98. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,564 shares of the company’s stock, 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 worth $5,475,122 in the last three months. 0.95% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortive

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Fortive by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 19,092,535 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,415,902,000 after purchasing an additional 181,948 shares in the last quarter. Flossbach Von Storch AG raised its position in Fortive by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Flossbach Von Storch AG now owns 11,107,878 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $817,873,000 after purchasing an additional 512,414 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. raised its position in Fortive by 13.1% in the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 7,577,474 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $557,929,000 after purchasing an additional 878,523 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its position in Fortive by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 5,847,724 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $430,568,000 after purchasing an additional 33,990 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Fortive by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,886,914 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $288,254,000 after acquiring an additional 85,560 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

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.