Wendell David Associates Inc. Sells 14,625 Shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Wendell David Associates Inc. cut its position in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 79.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,830 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 14,625 shares during the period. Wendell David Associates Inc.’s holdings in Fortive were worth $287,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of FTV. Raymond James & Associates raised its stake in shares of Fortive by 15.0% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 395,488 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $31,216,000 after purchasing an additional 51,690 shares during the last quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Fortive by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,932 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $389,000 after buying an additional 226 shares during the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank lifted its position in shares of Fortive by 197.0% during the 4th quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 15,264 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,145,000 after buying an additional 10,125 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Fortive by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 406,085 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $32,052,000 after buying an additional 10,795 shares during the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Fortive during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,346,000. Institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FTV has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Argus restated a “hold” rating on shares of Fortive in a report on Monday, November 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on Fortive from $85.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Fortive from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, UBS Group began coverage on Fortive in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $84.00 price target for the company. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $86.45.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Fortive Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE FTV opened at $80.22 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $76.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $74.95. Fortive Co. has a 12 month low of $66.15 and a 12 month high of $87.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.83 billion, a PE ratio of 31.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.14.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.55 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.85 earnings per share. Fortive’s revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Fortive Co. will post 3.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. Fortive’s payout ratio is 12.75%.

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.