Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) Shares Bought by Cerity Partners LLC

Cerity Partners LLC grew its stake in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 5.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 64,235 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,295 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Fortive were worth $5,070,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of FTV. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its stake in Fortive by 14,635.7% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 4,000,000 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $315,720,000 after buying an additional 3,972,855 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in shares of Fortive by 78.0% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 853,187 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $63,221,000 after acquiring an additional 373,957 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. raised its holdings in Fortive by 1,053.5% during the second quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 382,707 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $28,359,000 after purchasing an additional 349,530 shares in the last quarter. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Fortive in the third quarter valued at about $25,930,000. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Fortive by 27.4% in the 2nd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,269,103 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $94,041,000 after purchasing an additional 273,168 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays cut their target price on Fortive from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on Fortive from $85.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Mizuho raised shares of Fortive from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $80.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Fortive from $82.00 to $77.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Fortive in a research report on Friday, September 6th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $89.00 target price on the stock. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Fortive presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.82.

Fortive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FTV opened at $79.40 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.25. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $76.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $74.25. The stock has a market cap of $27.55 billion, a PE ratio of 31.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.13. Fortive Co. has a one year low of $66.15 and a one year high of $87.10.

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

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. Fortive’s payout ratio is 12.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Fortive news, CFO Charles E. Mclaughlin sold 6,864 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.03, for a total value of $508,141.92. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 73,391 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,433,135.73. This trade represents a 8.55 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.58, for a total transaction of $382,900.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 48,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,702,336.68. This represents a 9.37 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 197,895 shares of company stock worth $14,261,051. 1.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Fortive

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.