Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. Purchases Shares of 4,780 Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. bought a new stake in shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 4,780 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $358,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First Hawaiian Bank boosted its position in Fortive by 197.0% during the fourth quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 15,264 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,145,000 after purchasing an additional 10,125 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Fortive by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 406,085 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $32,052,000 after buying an additional 10,795 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Fortive by 26.4% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 37,502 shares of the technology company's stock worth $2,832,000 after purchasing an additional 7,829 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in Fortive during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,346,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Fortive by 23.9% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,574,289 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $118,292,000 after purchasing an additional 303,788 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.94% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on FTV. Argus reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Fortive in a research report on Monday, November 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective 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. StockNews.com lowered shares of Fortive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Fortive from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their target price for the company from $92.00 to $86.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Fortive from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $87.64.

Fortive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FTV traded down $0.70 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $78.84. The company had a trading volume of 1,616,427 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,509,258. Fortive Co. has a twelve month low of $66.15 and a twelve month high of $87.10. The stock has a market cap of $27.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.15. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $78.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $76.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 7th. The technology company reported $1.17 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Fortive Co. will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Fortive's payout ratio is currently 13.56%.

Insider Activity at Fortive

In other news, CAO Christopher M. Mulhall sold 6,493 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.95, for a total transaction of $519,115.35. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,283 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,941,425.85. This represents a 21.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 5,688 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.52, for a total transaction of $457,997.76. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 47,141 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,795,793.32. The trade was a 10.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 208,298 shares of company stock worth $16,740,998. Insiders own 1.01% of the company's stock.

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.