JPMorgan Chase & Co. Cuts Fortive (NYSE:FTV) Price Target to $73.00

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) had its price objective cut by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $90.00 to $73.00 in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the technology company’s stock.

FTV has been the subject of several other reports. StockNews.com lowered Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Fortive from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Citigroup lowered shares of Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $92.00 to $86.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Fortive from $77.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on Fortive from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $83.33.

Fortive Price Performance

NYSE FTV opened at $63.69 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.67 billion, a PE ratio of 26.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.12. Fortive has a 12-month low of $60.39 and a 12-month high of $84.03. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $75.49 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $76.37.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 7th. The technology company reported $1.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 previous year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Fortive will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.56%.

Insider Activity

In other Fortive news, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 5,688 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.52, for a total value of $457,997.76. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 47,141 shares in the company, valued at $3,795,793.32. This represents a 10.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Christopher M. Mulhall sold 6,493 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.95, for a total value of $519,115.35. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,283 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,941,425.85. The trade was a 21.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 243,385 shares of company stock worth $19,508,529. 1.01% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortive

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTV. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of Fortive by 0.8% during the first quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC now owns 80,391 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $5,883,000 after buying an additional 650 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Fortive during the 1st quarter worth approximately $209,000. NBC Securities Inc. grew its position in Fortive by 152,000.0% during the 1st quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,521 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $111,000 after acquiring an additional 1,520 shares during the last quarter. American National Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in Fortive during the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. Finally, Czech National Bank raised its position in Fortive by 4.2% in the 1st quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 78,368 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,735,000 after purchasing an additional 3,182 shares during the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.