Empowered Funds LLC Buys 174 Shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 3.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,410 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Fortive were worth $427,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Fortive during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Fortive during the second quarter valued at about $30,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortive during the second quarter valued at about $30,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in Fortive during the second quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Fortive during the 1st quarter worth $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target 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. Mizuho raised Fortive from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $80.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Fortive from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Fortive from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Finally, Raymond James raised Fortive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.82.

Insider Transactions at Fortive

In related news, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 171,808 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.71, for a total transaction of $12,320,351.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 42,651 shares in the company, valued at $3,058,503.21. The trade was a 80.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Jonathan L. Schwarz sold 14,223 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.80, for a total transaction of $1,049,657.40. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 68,161 shares in the company, valued at $5,030,281.80. The trade was a 17.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 197,895 shares of company stock valued at $14,261,051 in the last quarter. 1.01% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Fortive Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE FTV opened at $78.42 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $75.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $74.14. Fortive Co. has a 12-month low of $66.15 and a 12-month high of $87.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The technology company reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.04. Fortive had a return on equity of 12.56% and a net margin of 14.35%. The company had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.55 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.85 EPS. Fortive’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Fortive Co. will post 3.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. Fortive’s payout ratio is currently 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.