New Age Alpha Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

New Age Alpha Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,988 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $149,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in FTV. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Fortive during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Fortive by 186.8% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 456 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 297 shares during the last quarter. Crews Bank & Trust bought a new stake in Fortive in the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. Albion Financial Group UT purchased a new position in Fortive in the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA lifted its stake in Fortive by 28.6% during the 4th quarter. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA now owns 786 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 175 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on FTV shares. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Fortive from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Fortive from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Fortive from $77.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Citigroup cut 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, StockNews.com lowered shares of Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.18.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO James A. Lico sold 196,117 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 528,851 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,509,043.38. This represents a 27.05 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 3,002 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.05, for a total value of $237,308.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 42,373 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,349,585.65. This represents a 6.62 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 243,385 shares of company stock valued at $19,508,529 in the last quarter. 1.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Fortive Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of FTV opened at $74.36 on Thursday. Fortive Co. has a 1 year low of $66.15 and a 1 year high of $85.79. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $77.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $76.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The firm has a market cap of $25.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.16.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 7th. The technology company reported $1.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.05. Fortive had a net margin of 13.36% and a return on equity of 13.15%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Fortive Co. will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.56%.

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.