BNP Paribas Financial Markets Increases Stock Holdings in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV - Free Report) by 30.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 534,124 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 123,972 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets owned about 0.15% of Fortive worth $42,158,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in FTV. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in shares of Fortive in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $119,000. Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC increased its position in Fortive by 1.7% in the third quarter. Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC now owns 8,854 shares of the technology company's stock worth $699,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in shares of Fortive by 59.3% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,359,069 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $107,271,000 after buying an additional 505,882 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake in shares of Fortive by 51.4% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 476,925 shares of the technology company's stock worth $37,772,000 after acquiring an additional 161,815 shares during the period. Finally, DRW Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Fortive during the 3rd quarter worth $268,000. Institutional investors own 94.94% of the company's stock.

Fortive Price Performance

Shares of FTV traded up $0.01 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $79.33. 1,234,827 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,003,695. Fortive Co. has a 12 month low of $66.15 and a 12 month high of $87.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock has a market cap of $27.52 billion, a PE ratio of 31.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.13. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $76.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $74.25.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The technology company reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.55 billion. Fortive had a net margin of 14.35% and a return on equity of 12.56%. Fortive's revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.85 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Fortive Co. will post 3.85 EPS for the current year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. Fortive's payout ratio is 12.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fortive news, SVP Jonathan L. Schwarz sold 14,223 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.80, for a total transaction of $1,049,657.40. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 68,161 shares in the company, valued at $5,030,281.80. This represents a 17.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Charles E. Mclaughlin sold 6,864 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.03, for a total value of $508,141.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 73,391 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,433,135.73. This represents a 8.55 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 197,895 shares of company stock valued at $14,261,051 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.01% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FTV has been the topic of several recent research reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Fortive from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Fortive from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. Mizuho raised shares of Fortive from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $80.00 to $90.00 in a report on Friday, September 6th. Barclays dropped their target price on Fortive from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Fortive from $82.00 to $77.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Fortive has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $87.82.

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.