New England Research & Management Inc. Acquires New Holdings in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

New England Research & Management Inc. bought a new stake in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 24,272 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $1,820,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its stake in Fortive by 3.6% during the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 3,899 shares of the technology company's stock worth $308,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital increased its position in shares of Fortive by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 3,346 shares of the technology company's stock worth $252,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC raised its holdings in Fortive by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC now owns 8,854 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $699,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the period. Andina Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Fortive by 3.4% in the third quarter. Andina Capital Management LLC now owns 4,585 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $362,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Axiom Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Fortive by 1.6% during the third quarter. Axiom Advisory LLC now owns 10,048 shares of the technology company's stock worth $734,000 after buying an additional 157 shares during the period. 94.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Fortive

In other Fortive news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 5,000 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.58, for a total value of $382,900.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 48,346 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,702,336.68. The trade was a 9.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 171,808 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.71, for a total transaction of $12,320,351.68. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 42,651 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,058,503.21. This trade represents a 80.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.01% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Fortive Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of FTV traded up $1.23 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $81.88. The stock had a trading volume of 627,392 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,102,411. The company has a market cap of $28.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.61, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.14. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $77.46 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $75.20. Fortive Co. has a 1-year low of $66.15 and a 1-year high of $87.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The technology company reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.55 billion. Fortive had a return on equity of 12.56% and a net margin of 14.35%. Fortive's quarterly revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.85 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Fortive Co. will post 3.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. Fortive's payout ratio is 12.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FTV has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Fortive from $85.00 to $77.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Fortive from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Truist Financial increased their target price on Fortive from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Citigroup cut 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 report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, 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 research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Fortive has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $86.45.

Fortive 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.