Synovus Financial Corp Reduces Stock Position in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Synovus Financial Corp lowered its holdings in shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 57.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,344 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 12,836 shares during the quarter. Synovus Financial Corp’s holdings in Fortive were worth $738,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of FTV. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its holdings in Fortive by 14,635.7% during the 3rd 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. lifted its holdings in shares of Fortive by 1,005.9% in the 3rd 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 period. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Fortive by 13.8% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 8,041,324 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $634,701,000 after buying an additional 977,428 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Fortive by 1,014.1% in the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 924,671 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $72,984,000 after buying an additional 841,671 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in shares of Fortive by 59.3% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,359,069 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $107,271,000 after buying an additional 505,882 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on FTV shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Fortive from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $90.00 to $92.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Argus reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Fortive in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Wolfe Research downgraded Fortive from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Fortive from $82.00 to $77.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on Fortive from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.73.

Fortive Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE FTV opened at $75.71 on Wednesday. Fortive Co. has a twelve month low of $66.15 and a twelve 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 stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $76.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $74.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.27 billion, a PE ratio of 30.16, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.14.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The technology company reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.04. Fortive had a return on equity of 12.56% and a net margin of 14.35%. The business had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.55 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.85 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Fortive Co. will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 171,808 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.71, for a total transaction 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 $3,058,503.21. The trade was a 80.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 5,000 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 48,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,702,336.68. The trade was a 9.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.01% of the company’s stock.

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.