SouthState Corp Buys 484 Shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

SouthState Corp increased its position in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 15,666 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 484 shares during the quarter. SouthState Corp’s holdings in Fortive were worth $1,237,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Fortive during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Fortive during the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Fortive during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in Fortive in the second quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Fortive during the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Fortive Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of FTV stock opened at $74.50 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.13. Fortive Co. has a twelve month low of $66.15 and a twelve month high of $87.10. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $75.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $74.14.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The technology company reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.53 billion during 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%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.85 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Fortive Co. will post 3.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on FTV. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Fortive from $90.00 to $89.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Raymond James raised shares of Fortive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Argus restated a “hold” rating on shares of Fortive in a report on Monday. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Fortive from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on Fortive from $85.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.82.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 171,808 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.71, for a total value of $12,320,351.68. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 42,651 shares in the company, valued at $3,058,503.21. This trade represents a 80.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Charles E. Mclaughlin sold 6,864 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 73,391 shares in the company, valued at $5,433,135.73. This trade represents a 8.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 197,895 shares of company stock worth $14,261,051. Company insiders own 1.01% 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.