Argus Reaffirms Hold Rating for Fortive (NYSE:FTV)

Argus restated their hold rating on shares of Fortive (NYSE:FTV - Free Report) in a report issued on Monday morning, MarketBeat.com reports.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Fortive from $82.00 to $77.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Raymond James upgraded shares of Fortive from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $85.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Wolfe Research lowered Fortive from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Mizuho upgraded Fortive from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $80.00 to $90.00 in a report on Friday, September 6th. Finally, UBS Group began coverage on shares of Fortive in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $84.00 price objective on the stock. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fortive presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $87.82.

Fortive Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of Fortive stock traded down $0.21 during trading on Monday, reaching $74.61. 2,269,561 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,977,387. Fortive has a 1 year low of $66.15 and a 1 year high of $87.10. The firm has a market cap of $25.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.13. The stock's fifty day moving average is $75.53 and its 200 day moving average is $74.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

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

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. Fortive's payout ratio is 12.75%.

Insider Activity at Fortive

In related news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.58, for a total transaction of $382,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 48,346 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,702,336.68. This represents a 9.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Jonathan L. Schwarz sold 14,223 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.80, for a total transaction of $1,049,657.40. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 68,161 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,030,281.80. The trade was a 17.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 197,895 shares of company stock valued at $14,261,051 over the last quarter. 1.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Fortive

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of FTV. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in Fortive in the first quarter valued at $253,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Fortive in the first quarter valued at approximately $184,000. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Fortive in the 1st quarter valued at $383,000. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Fortive by 16.1% in the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 14,844 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,277,000 after purchasing an additional 2,055 shares during the period. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd raised its stake in Fortive by 319.4% during the 1st quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 15,368 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,322,000 after acquiring an additional 11,704 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.94% of the company's stock.

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.