M&T Bank Corp Sells 26,350 Shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

M&T Bank Corp cut its position in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 42.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 35,492 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 26,350 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Fortive were worth $2,801,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its stake in Fortive by 14,635.7% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 4,000,000 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $315,720,000 after acquiring an additional 3,972,855 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in Fortive by 1,005.9% during the third quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,937,153 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $152,899,000 after buying an additional 1,761,983 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in shares of Fortive by 13.8% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 8,041,324 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $634,701,000 after buying an additional 977,428 shares in the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Fortive by 1,014.1% during the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 924,671 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $72,984,000 after buying an additional 841,671 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in shares of Fortive by 59.3% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,359,069 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $107,271,000 after acquiring an additional 505,882 shares in the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Fortive 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 transaction of $382,900.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 48,346 shares in the company, valued at $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 available at this link. Also, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 171,808 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The shares were 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 owns 42,651 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,058,503.21. This trade represents a 80.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FTV has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Fortive from $82.00 to $77.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley started coverage on Fortive in a research report on Friday, September 6th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $89.00 price target for the company. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Fortive from $90.00 to $89.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Fortive from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Mizuho upgraded shares of Fortive from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $80.00 to $90.00 in a report on Friday, September 6th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $86.73.

Fortive Price Performance

Fortive stock opened at $76.85 on Friday. 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 business’s 50 day simple moving average is $76.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $74.37. Fortive Co. has a 12 month low of $66.15 and a 12 month high of $87.10. The company has a market cap of $26.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.62, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.14.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The technology company reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.04. Fortive had a return on equity of 12.56% and a net margin of 14.35%. The company had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.55 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.85 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Fortive Co. will post 3.85 EPS for the current year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. Fortive’s payout ratio is currently 12.75%.

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.