Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) was the target of a large decline in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,180,000 shares, a decline of 6.8% from the May 31st total of 2,340,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,610,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.4 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FTV has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Fortive from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $95.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Citigroup cut their price target on Fortive from $101.00 to $98.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Fortive from $92.00 to $84.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Fortive from $93.00 to $83.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Fortive from $89.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.69.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortive

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its position in Fortive by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,724 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $201,000 after buying an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. Lipe & Dalton raised its position in Fortive by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Lipe & Dalton now owns 7,096 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $610,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Pitcairn Co. raised its position in Fortive by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Pitcairn Co. now owns 11,170 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $961,000 after buying an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Edgemoor Investment Advisors Inc. raised its position in Fortive by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Edgemoor Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 3,249 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $239,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fulton Bank N.A. raised its position in Fortive by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 4,580 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $394,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Fortive Price Performance

Shares of FTV stock traded up $0.18 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $72.30. 1,940,465 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,660,008. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $75.04 and its 200-day moving average is $78.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 1.17. The stock has a market cap of $25.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.12. Fortive has a 52 week low of $63.05 and a 52 week high of $87.10.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The technology company reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.53 billion. Fortive had a return on equity of 12.22% and a net margin of 14.68%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Fortive will post 3.8 EPS for the current year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 31st were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 31st. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.65%.

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.