Stacey A. Walker Sells 5,688 Shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) Stock

Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV - Get Free Report) SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 5,688 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.52, for a total value of $457,997.76. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 47,141 shares in the company, valued at $3,795,793.32. This trade represents a 10.77 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Fortive Trading Down 0.7 %

NYSE FTV traded down $0.54 during trading on Monday, hitting $79.00. 3,558,248 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,559,711. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $78.70 and a two-hundred day moving average of $76.58. Fortive Co. has a 12-month low of $66.15 and a 12-month high of $87.10. The firm has a market cap of $27.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.47, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.05. Fortive had a return on equity of 13.15% and a net margin of 13.36%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Fortive Co. will post 4.05 EPS for the current year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. Fortive's payout ratio is 13.56%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortive

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Park Square Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Fortive in the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in shares of Fortive during the fourth quarter worth about $42,686,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Fortive in the fourth quarter worth about $1,031,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its holdings in Fortive by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 30,853 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,314,000 after purchasing an additional 1,679 shares during the period. Finally, Forum Financial Management LP raised its position in Fortive by 77.3% during the 4th quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 6,958 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $522,000 after purchasing an additional 3,034 shares during the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on FTV shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Fortive from $92.00 to $90.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Argus reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Fortive in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Fortive from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Fortive from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $92.00 to $86.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on Fortive from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $87.64.

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.