Vanguard Group Inc. Grows Stock Position in Fortive Corporation $FTV

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV) by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 39,413,849 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 839,321 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 11.65% of Fortive worth $2,054,644,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Private Advisor Group LLC purchased a new stake in Fortive in the 1st quarter valued at about $876,000. Whittier Trust Co. raised its stake in shares of Fortive by 6.8% during the second quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 354,784 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $18,494,000 after acquiring an additional 22,443 shares in the last quarter. FORA Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortive during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,434,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Fortive by 49.3% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,530,596 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $185,189,000 after purchasing an additional 835,277 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in Fortive by 38.3% in the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 761,405 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $55,717,000 after purchasing an additional 211,036 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on FTV shares. Citigroup lifted their target price on Fortive from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Fortive in a report on Wednesday. Zacks Research raised shares of Fortive from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 15th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Fortive to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Mizuho lowered their target price on Fortive from $65.00 to $54.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 17th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $57.38.

Fortive Trading Up 3.9%

NYSE FTV opened at $52.84 on Friday. Fortive Corporation has a 52 week low of $46.34 and a 52 week high of $83.32. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $49.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $55.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm has a market cap of $16.78 billion, a PE ratio of 30.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 1.16.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last announced its earnings results on Monday, June 9th. The technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of $1.07 billion during the quarter. Fortive had a net margin of 11.72% and a return on equity of 12.04%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Fortive Corporation will post 4.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 26th. Investors of record on Friday, November 28th will be given a dividend of $0.06 per share. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 28th. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Fortive news, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 2,192 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.35, for a total value of $110,367.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 59,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,995,220.80. This trade represents a 3.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.92% of the company’s stock.

Fortive Company 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.