Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Sells 13,108 Shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lowered its holdings in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV - Free Report) by 6.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 187,308 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 13,108 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC owned about 0.05% of Fortive worth $14,048,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Fortive by 3.6% in the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 3,899 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $308,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital raised its position in Fortive by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 3,346 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $252,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC boosted its stake in Fortive by 1.7% in the third quarter. Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC now owns 8,854 shares of the technology company's stock worth $699,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Andina Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Fortive by 3.4% during the third quarter. Andina Capital Management LLC now owns 4,585 shares of the technology company's stock worth $362,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Axiom Advisory LLC increased its stake in shares of Fortive by 1.6% in the third quarter. Axiom Advisory LLC now owns 10,048 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $734,000 after buying an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on FTV shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Fortive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Fortive from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Fortive from $85.00 to $77.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup cut Fortive from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $92.00 to $86.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Fortive from $92.00 to $90.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $86.45.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 48,346 shares in the company, valued at $3,702,336.68. This represents a 9.37 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 171,808 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.71, for a total value of $12,320,351.68. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 42,651 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,058,503.21. This represents a 80.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Fortive Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE FTV traded up $0.30 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $79.00. 2,659,762 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,226,464. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $76.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $74.81. Fortive Co. has a twelve month low of $66.15 and a twelve month high of $87.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.47, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.14.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The technology company reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.55 billion. Fortive had a net margin of 14.35% and a return on equity of 12.56%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.85 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Fortive Co. will post 3.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. 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.