Marshall & Sullivan Inc. WA Sells 638 Shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Marshall & Sullivan Inc. WA lowered its stake in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 1.1% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 59,905 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 638 shares during the quarter. Fortive makes up 2.2% of Marshall & Sullivan Inc. WA’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Marshall & Sullivan Inc. WA’s holdings in Fortive were worth $4,384,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in FTV. Dodge & Cox bought a new stake in Fortive in the fourth quarter valued at $583,493,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Fortive in the fourth quarter valued at $412,445,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Fortive by 164.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,730,161 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $654,763,000 after acquiring an additional 5,429,566 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Fortive by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 42,947,135 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,221,036,000 after buying an additional 3,810,997 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Third Point LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortive during the 4th quarter valued at $142,500,000. Institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortive

In other news, CEO James A. Lico sold 175,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.40, for a total transaction of $12,670,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 428,585 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,029,554. This represents a 28.99% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 14,327 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.88, for a total transaction of $1,058,478.76. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 51,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,823,290. The trade was a 21.68% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on FTV shares. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Fortive from $85.00 to $84.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Fortive from $90.00 to $81.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Fortive from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Fortive from $68.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.92.

Fortive Price Performance

FTV opened at $70.24 on Tuesday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $23.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.10. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $68.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $74.63. Fortive Co. has a 52-week low of $60.39 and a 52-week high of $83.32.

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

Fortive announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, May 27th that allows the company to buyback 15,630,000 shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14.04%.

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.