FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH Sells 886 Shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH decreased its holdings in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 3.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 21,933 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 886 shares during the quarter. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH’s holdings in Fortive were worth $1,645,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTV. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake 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 valued at $197,726,000 after purchasing an additional 205,893 shares during the last quarter. Argent Trust Co lifted its position in Fortive by 2.3% in the second quarter. Argent Trust Co now owns 15,811 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,172,000 after buying an additional 348 shares during the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its stake in Fortive by 16.0% during the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 14,487 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,074,000 after buying an additional 2,001 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its position in Fortive by 5.0% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 28,400 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,062,000 after acquiring an additional 1,349 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its stake in shares of Fortive by 3.4% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,044,293 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $77,379,000 after acquiring an additional 33,904 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 171,808 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.71, for a total transaction of $12,320,351.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 42,651 shares in the company, valued at $3,058,503.21. The trade was a 80.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.58, for a total transaction of $382,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 48,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,702,336.68. This trade represents a 9.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Fortive Price Performance

FTV opened at $79.00 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $27.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.47, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Fortive Co. has a 12-month low of $66.15 and a 12-month high of $87.10. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $76.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $74.76.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The technology company reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.04. Fortive had a net margin of 14.35% and a return on equity of 12.56%. The company had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.55 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.85 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Fortive Co. will post 3.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on FTV shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Fortive from $92.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays dropped their target price on Fortive from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Fortive from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Argus reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Fortive in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective 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. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $86.45.

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.