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

UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Fortive (NYSE:FTV) in a research note released on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage issued a neutral rating and a $84.00 price objective on the technology company’s stock.

FTV has been the subject of a number of other reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Fortive from $82.00 to $77.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Mizuho raised Fortive from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $80.00 to $90.00 in a report on Friday, September 6th. Royal Bank of Canada cut 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. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Fortive in a research report on Friday, September 6th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $89.00 target price for the company. Finally, Raymond James upgraded shares of Fortive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fortive has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.82.

Fortive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FTV opened at $74.82 on Wednesday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $25.96 billion, a PE ratio of 29.81, a P/E/G 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. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $75.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $74.18.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The technology company reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.55 billion. Fortive had a net margin of 14.35% and a return on equity of 12.56%. Fortive’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.85 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Fortive will post 3.85 EPS for the current year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio is 12.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 171,808 shares of the 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 transaction, the senior vice president now 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, CFO Charles E. Mclaughlin sold 6,864 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.03, for a total transaction of $508,141.92. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 73,391 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,433,135.73. This represents a 8.55 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 197,895 shares of company stock worth $14,261,051. 1.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortive

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its stake in Fortive by 14,635.7% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 4,000,000 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $315,720,000 after acquiring an additional 3,972,855 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in Fortive by 47.1% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 6,244,117 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $537,119,000 after purchasing an additional 1,999,792 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Fortive by 1,005.9% in the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,937,153 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $152,899,000 after purchasing an additional 1,761,983 shares during the period. Boston Partners raised its holdings in shares of Fortive by 19.3% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 6,463,772 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $554,253,000 after buying an additional 1,045,245 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Fortive by 1,014.1% during the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 924,671 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $72,984,000 after buying an additional 841,671 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

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.