Cetera Trust Company N.A Acquires New Holdings in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Cetera Trust Company N.A acquired a new stake in shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 387 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Fortive by 1.0% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 19,092,535 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,415,902,000 after buying an additional 181,948 shares during the period. Flossbach Von Storch AG boosted its holdings in Fortive by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Flossbach Von Storch AG now owns 11,107,878 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $817,873,000 after purchasing an additional 512,414 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its holdings in Fortive by 2.9% during the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 6,698,951 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $496,794,000 after purchasing an additional 191,877 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Fortive by 2.3% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,886,914 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $288,254,000 after acquiring an additional 85,560 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its position in Fortive by 8.6% during the third quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 3,294,446 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $244,316,000 after acquiring an additional 260,404 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Fortive Trading Up 0.3 %

FTV stock opened at $80.61 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $28.32 billion, a PE ratio of 33.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 2.05. Fortive Co. has a 52 week low of $62.70 and a 52 week high of $87.10. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $84.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $76.13.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 31st. The technology company reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. Fortive had a net margin of 14.27% and a return on equity of 12.12%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.88 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Fortive Co. will post 3.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 31st. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. Fortive’s payout ratio is 13.11%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fortive news, CEO Tamara S. Newcombe sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.00, for a total transaction of $425,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 55,017 shares in the company, valued at $4,676,445. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 9,106 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.50, for a total value of $787,669.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 36,558 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,162,267. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Tamara S. Newcombe sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.00, for a total transaction of $425,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 55,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,676,445. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 63,937 shares of company stock worth $5,475,122 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.95% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FTV has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Fortive from $89.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Fortive from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Fortive from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $95.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Fortive from $79.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Fortive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $86.54.

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.