Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) Receives Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV - Get Free Report) have earned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the thirteen analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $86.45.

Several research firms have recently commented on FTV. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Fortive from $92.00 to $90.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Fortive from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Citigroup lowered Fortive from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $92.00 to $86.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Argus reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Fortive in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Fortive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Fortive news, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 171,808 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.71, for a total value of $12,320,351.68. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 42,651 shares in the company, valued at $3,058,503.21. The trade was a 80.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 5,000 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.58, for a total transaction of $382,900.00. Following the completion of 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortive

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in Fortive by 18.6% during the 4th quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,704 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,103,000 after purchasing an additional 2,311 shares in the last quarter. Albion Financial Group UT purchased a new stake in Fortive during the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Fortive by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 96,614 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $7,246,000 after acquiring an additional 1,110 shares during the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Fortive in the fourth quarter worth about $11,238,000. Finally, New Hampshire Trust increased its holdings in shares of Fortive by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. New Hampshire Trust now owns 14,181 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,064,000 after purchasing an additional 372 shares in the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fortive Stock Performance

NYSE:FTV traded up $0.30 on Friday, reaching $79.00. 2,659,762 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,226,464. 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 has a 52 week low of $66.15 and a 52 week high of $87.10. The firm has a market cap of $27.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.14. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $76.68 and a 200-day simple moving average of $74.82.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV - Get Free Report) last announced its 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. Fortive had a net margin of 14.35% and a return on equity of 12.56%. The business had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.55 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.85 earnings per share. Fortive's quarterly revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Fortive will post 3.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. Fortive's payout ratio is 12.75%.

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.