Empirical Finance LLC Buys 427 Shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Empirical Finance LLC grew its holdings in shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 3.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,594 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 427 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Fortive were worth $1,083,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO bought a new stake in shares of Fortive during the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. Cetera Trust Company N.A purchased a new position in shares of Fortive during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Spire Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Fortive by 69.3% during the 4th quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 508 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC purchased a new position in shares of Fortive during the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt raised its holdings in shares of Fortive by 1,162.8% during the 4th quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 543 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Fortive Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of FTV traded up $0.64 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $75.59. 1,296,403 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,637,896. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. Fortive Co. has a 1 year low of $63.05 and a 1 year high of $87.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.14, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.12. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $74.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $78.16.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The technology company reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.53 billion. Fortive had a return on equity of 12.22% and a net margin of 14.68%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Fortive Co. will post 3.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on FTV shares. StockNews.com raised Fortive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 13th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Fortive from $84.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Barclays decreased their price target on Fortive from $97.00 to $93.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup decreased their price target on Fortive from $101.00 to $98.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on Fortive from $93.00 to $83.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Fortive presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $86.08.

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.