Gamco Investors INC. ET AL Takes $384,000 Position in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Gamco Investors INC. ET AL purchased a new position in shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 5,124 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $384,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Gabelli Funds LLC bought a new position in shares of Fortive in the 4th quarter worth $266,000. Dodge & Cox bought a new position in shares of Fortive in the fourth quarter valued at $583,493,000. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board lifted its stake in shares of Fortive by 506.4% in the fourth quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 27,773 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,083,000 after buying an additional 23,193 shares in the last quarter. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan acquired a new position in shares of Fortive during the fourth quarter valued at about $377,000. Finally, Keystone Financial Group bought a new stake in shares of Fortive during the fourth quarter worth about $219,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.94% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Charles E. Mclaughlin sold 32,085 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.86, for a total transaction of $2,530,223.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 76,126 shares in the company, valued at $6,003,296.36. The trade was a 29.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 3,002 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.05, for a total value of $237,308.10. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 42,373 shares in the company, valued at $3,349,585.65. This trade represents a 6.62 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 243,385 shares of company stock valued at $19,508,529. Corporate insiders own 1.01% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on FTV. Citigroup cut their price target on Fortive from $84.00 to $69.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. BNP Paribas cut Fortive from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $67.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Fortive from $90.00 to $73.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Fortive from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Fortive from $77.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $81.92.

Fortive Stock Performance

Shares of FTV traded up $1.17 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $67.16. The stock had a trading volume of 1,828,204 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,374,092. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The firm has a market cap of $22.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.46, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.12. Fortive Co. has a 52 week low of $60.39 and a 52 week high of $83.32. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $73.13 and a 200-day moving average price of $75.68.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, February 7th. The technology company reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.05. Fortive had a net margin of 13.36% and a return on equity of 13.15%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Fortive Co. will post 4.05 EPS for the current year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Fortive's payout ratio is 13.56%.

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.