Sky Investment Group LLC Buys 304 Shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Sky Investment Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 41,558 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 304 shares during the quarter. Sky Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Fortive were worth $3,117,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in Fortive during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortive during the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Fortive by 71.0% during the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 424 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 176 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in Fortive by 186.8% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 456 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 297 shares during the period. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in Fortive in the 3rd quarter worth $41,000. 94.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fortive news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.58, for a total value of $382,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 48,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,702,336.68. This trade represents a 9.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 171,808 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.71, for a total value of $12,320,351.68. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 42,651 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,058,503.21. This represents a 80.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on FTV. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Fortive from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Fortive from $92.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. StockNews.com cut shares of Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Fortive from $85.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Fortive from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $86.45.

Fortive Stock Performance

Fortive stock opened at $79.00 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Fortive Co. has a twelve month low of $66.15 and a twelve month high of $87.10. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $76.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $74.84. The company has a market cap of $27.41 billion, a PE ratio of 31.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 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, topping 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 in the previous year, the firm posted $0.85 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Fortive Co. will post 3.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th were given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.75%.

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.