V Square Quantitative Management LLC Lowers Position in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

V Square Quantitative Management LLC lessened its stake in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 4.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 8,829 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 398 shares during the quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC’s holdings in Fortive were worth $662,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of FTV. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Fortive by 0.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,191,915 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $644,346,000 after acquiring an additional 46,704 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in Fortive by 13.8% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 8,041,324 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $634,701,000 after acquiring an additional 977,428 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its position in Fortive by 14,635.7% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 4,000,000 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $315,720,000 after acquiring an additional 3,972,855 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in Fortive by 3.1% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,444,205 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $271,851,000 after acquiring an additional 103,530 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Fortive by 1.3% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,964,789 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $155,081,000 after acquiring an additional 24,539 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Fortive Stock Performance

Shares of Fortive stock opened at $80.59 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.11, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $77.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $75.67. Fortive Co. has a 52 week low of $66.15 and a 52 week high of $87.10.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 7th. The technology company reported $1.17 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.05. Fortive had a net margin of 14.35% and a return on equity of 12.56%. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Fortive Co. will post 3.84 EPS for the current year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.75%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on FTV. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Fortive from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Fortive in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $84.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Fortive from $92.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Fortive from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fortive has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.