Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC Cuts Position in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC reduced its stake in shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 9.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,786 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 286 shares during the quarter. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Fortive were worth $209,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTV. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new stake in shares of Fortive in the 4th quarter valued at about $11,900,000. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Fortive by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,380 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $704,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its holdings in Fortive by 44.7% in the fourth quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 32,883 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,466,000 after purchasing an additional 10,165 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. increased its position in shares of Fortive by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 147,381 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $11,054,000 after purchasing an additional 8,456 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. increased its position in shares of Fortive by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 330,269 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $24,770,000 after purchasing an additional 1,888 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Fortive Price Performance

Shares of FTV opened at $75.92 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $25.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.16. The business’s 50-day moving average is $78.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $76.92. 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 Co. has a fifty-two week low of $66.15 and a fifty-two week high of $86.21.

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 quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Fortive Co. will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. Fortive’s payout ratio is 13.56%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fortive news, CEO James A. Lico sold 196,117 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.38, for a total transaction of $15,763,884.46. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 528,851 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,509,043.38. This trade represents a 27.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Christopher M. Mulhall sold 6,493 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.95, for a total transaction of $519,115.35. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,283 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,941,425.85. This represents a 21.10 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 243,385 shares of company stock worth $19,508,529. Company insiders own 1.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on FTV shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Fortive from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Fortive from $77.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Fortive from $92.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $92.00 to $86.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Truist Financial raised 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Fortive currently has a consensus 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.