Swiss National Bank Grows Position in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Swiss National Bank lifted its stake in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,044,900 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 4,600 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Fortive were worth $82,474,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in shares of Fortive in the third quarter worth $25,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Fortive in the first quarter worth $32,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new stake in Fortive in the second quarter worth $30,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Fortive in the second quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Goodman Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in Fortive in the second quarter worth $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Fortive Trading Down 0.3 %

NYSE FTV opened at $74.61 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $75.58 and its 200-day moving average price is $74.15. 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 stock has a market cap of $25.89 billion, a PE ratio of 29.73, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.13. Fortive Co. has a 12 month low of $66.15 and a 12 month high of $87.10.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The technology company reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.53 billion for 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 company’s revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.85 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Fortive Co. will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.75%.

Insider Activity

In other Fortive news, CFO Charles E. Mclaughlin sold 6,864 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.03, for a total transaction of $508,141.92. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 73,391 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,433,135.73. The trade was a 8.55 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 5,000 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 48,346 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,702,336.68. This trade represents a 9.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 197,895 shares of company stock valued at $14,261,051 in the last three months. 1.01% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on FTV. Mizuho upgraded shares of Fortive from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $80.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Friday, September 6th. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Fortive in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $84.00 price target on the stock. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Fortive from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Raymond James upgraded shares of Fortive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Fortive from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $90.00 to $92.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Fortive presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.82.

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.