Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) CEO James A. Lico Sells 196,117 Shares

Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) CEO James A. Lico sold 196,117 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 528,851 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,509,043.38. The trade was a 27.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Fortive Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of Fortive stock opened at $79.93 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 0.91. Fortive Co. has a 1 year low of $66.15 and a 1 year high of $87.10. The firm has a market cap of $27.73 billion, a PE ratio of 33.87, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $78.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $76.38.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 7th. The technology company reported $1.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.05. Fortive had a net margin of 13.36% and a return on equity of 13.15%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Fortive Co. will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.56%.

Institutional Trading of Fortive

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. First Hawaiian Bank grew its position in Fortive by 197.0% during the fourth quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 15,264 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,145,000 after acquiring an additional 10,125 shares during 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 valued at $32,052,000 after purchasing an additional 10,795 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Fortive by 26.4% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 37,502 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,832,000 after purchasing an additional 7,829 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new position in Fortive in the 3rd quarter worth $1,346,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Fortive by 23.9% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,574,289 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $118,292,000 after purchasing an additional 303,788 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on FTV shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Fortive from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Citigroup cut Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $92.00 to $86.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Barclays dropped 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. StockNews.com lowered Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Argus reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Fortive in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fortive presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.64.

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.