Fortive (NYSE:FTV) Given New $53.00 Price Target at Morgan Stanley

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) had its price objective increased by Morgan Stanley from $50.00 to $53.00 in a report issued on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the technology company’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on FTV. TD Cowen downgraded Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $85.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Wall Street Zen raised Fortive to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Zacks Research raised Fortive from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 15th. Melius downgraded Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $62.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $58.00 target price (up from $55.00) on shares of Fortive in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and sixteen have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $59.29.

Fortive Price Performance

Shares of FTV stock opened at $50.23 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $48.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $56.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.70, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 1.16. Fortive has a fifty-two week low of $46.34 and a fifty-two week high of $83.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.70.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last issued its earnings results on Monday, June 9th. The technology company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter. Fortive had a return on equity of 12.04% and a net margin of 11.72%.The firm had revenue of $1.07 billion for the quarter. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Fortive will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 12th were issued a dividend of $0.06 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 12th. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fortive news, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 2,192 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.35, for a total value of $110,367.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 59,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,995,220.80. The trade was a 3.55% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.92% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortive

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FTV. Private Advisor Group LLC bought a new position in Fortive during the first quarter worth about $876,000. FORA Capital LLC bought a new position in Fortive during the first quarter worth about $1,434,000. Whittier Trust Co. grew its holdings in Fortive by 6.8% during the second quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 354,784 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $18,494,000 after purchasing an additional 22,443 shares during the period. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich grew its holdings in Fortive by 2,408.4% during the first quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 128,031 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $9,409,000 after purchasing an additional 122,927 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Fortive by 49.3% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,530,596 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $185,189,000 after purchasing an additional 835,277 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

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.