Focus Partners Wealth Purchases 155,334 Shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Focus Partners Wealth grew its position in shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 1,139.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 168,967 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 155,334 shares during the quarter. Focus Partners Wealth’s holdings in Fortive were worth $12,674,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of FTV. Parvin Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Fortive during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Fortive during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Crews Bank & Trust bought a new position in shares of Fortive during the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Albion Financial Group UT bought a new position in shares of Fortive during the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Quarry LP lifted its holdings in shares of Fortive by 229.6% during the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 501 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 349 shares during the period. 94.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Fortive from $68.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. BNP Paribas cut Fortive from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $67.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Fortive from $90.00 to $73.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Barclays decreased their target price on Fortive from $85.00 to $84.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Fortive from $88.00 to $82.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $80.85.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Christopher M. Mulhall sold 6,493 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.95, for a total transaction of $519,115.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,283 shares in the company, valued at $1,941,425.85. This trade represents a 21.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO James A. Lico sold 196,117 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.38, for a total value of $15,763,884.46. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 528,851 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,509,043.38. The trade was a 27.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 243,385 shares of company stock worth $19,508,529 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.01% of the company’s stock.

Fortive Trading Up 4.7%

Shares of FTV stock opened at $73.81 on Tuesday. Fortive Co. has a 52-week low of $60.39 and a 52-week high of $83.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.09 billion, a PE ratio of 31.28, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.10. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $69.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $74.90.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85. Fortive had a return on equity of 13.15% and a net margin of 13.36%. The business had revenue of $1.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.49 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.83 EPS. Fortive’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Fortive Co. will post 4.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be given 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 0.43%. Fortive’s payout ratio is 14.04%.

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.