Fortive (NYSE:FTV) Price Target Cut to $77.00 by Analysts at Royal Bank of Canada

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) had its price target decreased by Royal Bank of Canada from $85.00 to $77.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “sector perform” rating on the technology company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 7.66% from the stock’s current price.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Fortive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Fortive from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Raymond James upgraded shares of Fortive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Fortive from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Mizuho upgraded shares of Fortive from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $80.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fortive has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $88.80.

Fortive Price Performance

NYSE:FTV traded down $0.57 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $71.52. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,890,702 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,895,275. The business’s 50-day moving average is $75.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $74.57. The company has a market capitalization of $25.18 billion, a PE ratio of 28.21, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.23. Fortive has a 52-week low of $64.44 and a 52-week high of $87.10.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The technology company reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.04. Fortive had a net margin of 14.39% and a return on equity of 12.32%. The business had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.55 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.85 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Fortive will post 3.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Fortive

In related news, CFO Charles E. Mclaughlin sold 6,864 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.03, for a total transaction of $508,141.92. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 73,391 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,433,135.73. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CFO Charles E. Mclaughlin sold 6,864 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.03, for a total transaction of $508,141.92. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 73,391 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,433,135.73. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Jonathan L. Schwarz sold 14,223 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.80, for a total transaction of $1,049,657.40. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 68,161 shares in the company, valued at $5,030,281.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortive

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Boston Partners increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 1,045,245 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in shares of Fortive by 47.1% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 6,244,117 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $537,119,000 after purchasing an additional 1,999,792 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Fortive by 8.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,668,448 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $197,726,000 after purchasing an additional 205,893 shares during the last quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. increased its position in shares of Fortive by 6.8% in the 2nd quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 2,641,314 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $195,721,000 after purchasing an additional 168,368 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its position in shares of Fortive by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,565,443 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $190,099,000 after purchasing an additional 94,170 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.