Fortive (NYSE:FTV) Hits New 1-Year High – What’s Next?

Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV) hit a new 52-week high on Tuesday. The company traded as high as $67.47 and last traded at $67.32, with a volume of 422,304 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $66.84.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FTV has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Fortive from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. Truist Financial reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $65.00 target price (up from $63.00) on shares of Fortive in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Fortive from $65.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on Fortive from $59.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Finally, Argus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $68.00 price target on shares of Fortive in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $64.36.

Fortive Stock Performance

The stock’s 50 day moving average is $58.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The technology company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.07 billion. Fortive had a return on equity of 15.79% and a net margin of 14.83%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.68 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Fortive Corporation will post 3.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 28th. Investors of record on Friday, November 27th will be given a $0.07 dividend. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 27th. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Christopher M. Mulhall sold 17,962 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.56, for a total value of $1,177,588.72. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 44,598 shares in the company, valued at $2,923,844.88. This trade represents a 28.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Peter Underwood sold 48,442 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.60, for a total transaction of $3,129,353.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 79,118 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,111,022.80. This represents a 37.98% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 83,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,371,093. Insiders own 0.65% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lifted its position in Fortive by 14.1% during the 3rd quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 18,490 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,013,000 after buying an additional 2,279 shares in the last quarter. Machina Capital S.A.S. increased its position in shares of Fortive by 197.5% in the third quarter. Machina Capital S.A.S. now owns 42,747 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,343,000 after acquiring an additional 28,379 shares during the last quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Fortive by 40.3% in the third quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC now owns 7,193 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $394,000 after acquiring an additional 2,065 shares during the last quarter. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP bought a new stake in Fortive during the third quarter worth about $522,000. Finally, Candriam S.C.A. raised its holdings in Fortive by 9.6% during the third quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 427,271 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $23,504,000 after acquiring an additional 37,327 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

About Fortive

Fortive Corporation (NYSE: FTV) is a diversified industrial technology company that develops and provides products, software and services designed to improve the productivity, safety, reliability and efficiency of businesses and public-sector organizations. Its offerings support customers in industries including manufacturing, healthcare, utilities, transportation, commercial facilities and government.

The company’s portfolio includes electronic test and measurement equipment, calibration and asset-management solutions, workplace and facility-management software, engineering and infrastructure software, product identification and traceability systems, and healthcare technology.