Intact Investment Management Inc. Buys New Shares in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Intact Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 980 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $74,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in FTV. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased 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 last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in Fortive by 1,005.9% in the third quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,937,153 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $152,899,000 after acquiring an additional 1,761,983 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 977,428 shares during the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP increased its stake in Fortive by 1,014.1% in the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 924,671 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $72,984,000 after acquiring an additional 841,671 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in 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 valued at $107,271,000 after buying an additional 505,882 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fortive news, CFO Charles E. Mclaughlin sold 32,085 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.86, for a total transaction of $2,530,223.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 76,126 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,003,296.36. This trade represents a 29.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 3,002 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.05, for a total transaction of $237,308.10. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 42,373 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,349,585.65. This represents a 6.62 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 243,385 shares of company stock worth $19,508,529 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on FTV. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Fortive from $92.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Argus restated a “hold” rating on shares of Fortive in a research report on Monday, November 18th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Fortive from $77.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Citigroup lowered shares of Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $92.00 to $86.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fortive has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.64.

Fortive Stock Performance

Shares of FTV opened at $73.83 on Friday. 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 one year low of $66.15 and a one year high of $87.10. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $78.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $76.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.12 billion, a PE ratio of 31.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.16.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 7th. The technology company reported $1.17 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 period last year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Fortive Co. will post 4.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.56%.

Fortive 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.