Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) Shares Sold by Boit C F David

Boit C F David lowered its position in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 55.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 600 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 750 shares during the quarter. Boit C F David’s holdings in Fortive were worth $45,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Fortive during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. grew its position in Fortive by 71.0% in the third quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 424 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 176 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Fortive by 186.8% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 456 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 297 shares during the period. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new position in shares of Fortive during the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Finally, Albion Financial Group UT purchased a new position in shares of Fortive in the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Fortive Trading Down 0.4 %

Fortive stock opened at $81.28 on Friday. Fortive Co. has a 12-month low of $66.15 and a 12-month high of $87.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.20 billion, a PE ratio of 32.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.14. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $77.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $75.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The technology company reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.55 billion. Fortive had a return on equity of 12.56% and a net margin of 14.35%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.85 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Fortive Co. will post 3.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.39%. Fortive’s payout ratio is currently 12.75%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on FTV shares. Argus reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Fortive in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on Fortive from $85.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup lowered shares of Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $92.00 to $86.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Fortive from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Fortive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 25th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.45.

Insider Activity at Fortive

In other news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 5,000 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 48,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,702,336.68. This represents a 9.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.01% 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.