Holocene Advisors LP Increases Holdings in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Holocene Advisors LP grew its holdings in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV - Free Report) by 1,014.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 924,671 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 841,671 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP owned approximately 0.27% of Fortive worth $72,984,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of Fortive in the third quarter worth about $25,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Fortive during the second quarter worth approximately $30,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fortive in the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in Fortive in the second quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. lifted its position in Fortive by 71.0% during the third quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 424 shares of the technology company's stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 176 shares during the period. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on FTV. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Fortive from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $90.00 to $92.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Raymond James upgraded Fortive from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $85.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on Fortive in a report on Friday, September 6th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $89.00 price objective for the company. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Fortive from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Fortive from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $87.82.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortive

In related news, SVP Jonathan L. Schwarz sold 14,223 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.80, for a total value of $1,049,657.40. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 68,161 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,030,281.80. This trade represents a 17.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Charles E. Mclaughlin sold 6,864 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 73,391 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,433,135.73. This trade represents a 8.55 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 197,895 shares of company stock valued at $14,261,051. 1.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Fortive Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of FTV traded down $0.06 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $78.90. 902,190 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,998,323. Fortive Co. has a twelve month low of $66.15 and a twelve month high of $87.10. The stock has a market cap of $27.37 billion, a PE ratio of 31.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.14. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $76.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $74.22. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The technology company reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.55 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.85 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Fortive Co. will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Fortive's payout ratio is 12.75%.

Fortive 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.