Stacey A. Walker Sells 5,688 Shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) Stock

Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 5,688 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.52, for a total transaction of $457,997.76. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 47,141 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,795,793.32. The trade was a 10.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Fortive Stock Up 0.2 %

FTV opened at $79.73 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $78.70 and a two-hundred day moving average of $76.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.78, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.15. Fortive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $66.15 and a fifty-two week high of $87.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.16.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 7th. The technology company reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.05. Fortive had a return on equity of 13.15% and a net margin of 13.36%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Fortive Co. will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.56%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortive

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. First Hawaiian Bank lifted its holdings in Fortive by 197.0% during the fourth quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 15,264 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,145,000 after purchasing an additional 10,125 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Fortive by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 406,085 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $32,052,000 after purchasing an additional 10,795 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Fortive by 26.4% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 37,502 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,832,000 after buying an additional 7,829 shares in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in Fortive in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,346,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Fortive by 23.9% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,574,289 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $118,292,000 after buying an additional 303,788 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on FTV. StockNews.com cut Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Fortive from $92.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Fortive from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Fortive from $77.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Argus reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Fortive in a report on Monday, November 18th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.64.

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.