Bank of Montreal Can Acquires 161,815 Shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV - Free Report) by 51.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 476,925 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 161,815 shares during the quarter. Bank of Montreal Can owned approximately 0.14% of Fortive worth $37,772,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its holdings in shares of Fortive by 14,635.7% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 4,000,000 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $315,720,000 after purchasing an additional 3,972,855 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Fortive by 8.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,668,448 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $197,726,000 after purchasing an additional 205,893 shares during the period. Select Equity Group L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Fortive by 6.8% in the 2nd quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 2,641,314 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $195,721,000 after purchasing an additional 168,368 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its holdings in shares of Fortive by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,565,443 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $190,099,000 after purchasing an additional 94,170 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Fortive by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,448,815 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $181,457,000 after purchasing an additional 67,279 shares during the period. 94.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on FTV. StockNews.com raised shares of Fortive from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Mizuho raised shares of Fortive from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price target for the company from $80.00 to $90.00 in a report on Friday, September 6th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Fortive in a report on Friday, September 6th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $89.00 price target on the stock. Wolfe Research cut shares of Fortive from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Fortive from $82.00 to $77.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, Fortive currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $87.82.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortive

In other Fortive news, CFO Charles E. Mclaughlin sold 6,864 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.03, for a total value of $508,141.92. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 73,391 shares in the company, valued at $5,433,135.73. This trade represents a 8.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 171,808 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.71, for a total transaction of $12,320,351.68. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 42,651 shares in the company, valued at $3,058,503.21. This represents a 80.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 197,895 shares of company stock worth $14,261,051 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.01% of the company's stock.

Fortive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FTV traded up $0.01 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $79.33. 1,234,821 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,003,695. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.25. The company 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 company's fifty day simple moving average is $76.17 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $74.25. Fortive Co. has a 1-year low of $66.15 and a 1-year high of $87.10.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.53 billion for 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%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.85 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Fortive Co. will post 3.85 EPS for the current year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a $0.08 dividend. 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 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.