Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) Stake Reduced by HM Payson & Co.

HM Payson & Co. cut its holdings in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 20.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,715 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 2,275 shares during the quarter. HM Payson & Co.’s holdings in Fortive were worth $654,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in Fortive in the third quarter worth about $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Fortive in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in Fortive by 186.8% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 456 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 297 shares during the period. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in Fortive during the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Albion Financial Group UT acquired a new stake in Fortive during the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Argus restated a “hold” rating on shares of Fortive in a report on Monday, November 18th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Fortive from $77.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com downgraded Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Fortive from $92.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on Fortive from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.64.

Fortive Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE FTV opened at $76.58 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $26.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.45, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.16. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $78.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $76.80. Fortive Co. has a 52 week low of $66.15 and a 52 week high of $87.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.16.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 7th. The technology company reported $1.17 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.05. Fortive had a return on equity of 13.15% and a net margin of 13.36%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.98 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Fortive Co. will post 4.05 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, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. Fortive’s payout ratio is currently 13.56%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fortive news, CEO James A. Lico sold 196,117 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.38, for a total transaction of $15,763,884.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 528,851 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,509,043.38. This represents a 27.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 3,002 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.05, for a total value of $237,308.10. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 42,373 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,349,585.65. The trade was a 6.62 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 243,385 shares of company stock valued at $19,508,529 over the last 90 days. 1.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.