Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.08

Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 3rd, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of 0.08 per share by the technology company on Friday, June 27th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%.

Fortive has raised its dividend payment by an average of 4.6% per year over the last three years. Fortive has a payout ratio of 7.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Fortive to earn $4.38 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.32 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 7.3%.

Fortive Price Performance

Fortive stock traded down $6.75 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $67.54. The stock had a trading volume of 4,209,026 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,524,200. Fortive has a 1-year low of $66.15 and a 1-year high of $85.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.62, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.16. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $77.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $76.98. 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 (NYSE:FTV) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 7th. The technology company reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Fortive will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on FTV. Barclays lowered their target price on Fortive from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Fortive from $77.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Fortive from $92.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Citigroup cut shares of Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $92.00 to $86.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Fortive from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.18.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related 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 value of $2,530,223.10. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 76,126 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,003,296.36. This trade represents a 29.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 3,002 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.05, for a total transaction of $237,308.10. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 42,373 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,349,585.65. This represents a 6.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 243,385 shares of company stock valued at $19,508,529 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.01% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortive

An institutional investor recently raised its position in Fortive stock. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 97.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,706 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,811 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Fortive were worth $428,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

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.