Fortive (NYSE:FTV) CAO Christopher Mulhall Sells 17,962 Shares of Company Stock

Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV) CAO Christopher Mulhall sold 17,962 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.56, for a total transaction of $1,177,588.72. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 44,598 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,923,844.88. This trade represents a 28.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Fortive Trading Up 2.4%

FTV stock traded up $1.53 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $66.77. 3,835,360 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,498,612. The company has a market capitalization of $20.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.61, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.00. Fortive Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $49.03 and a fifty-two week high of $67.30. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $57.90 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $58.71.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 28th. The technology company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.07. Fortive had a net margin of 14.83% and a return on equity of 15.79%. The company had revenue of $1.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.68 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Fortive Corporation will post 3.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 4th were given a $0.07 dividend. This represents a $0.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. This is a boost from Fortive’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 4th. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio is 13.33%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on FTV shares. Citigroup upped their target price on Fortive from $65.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Evercore assumed coverage on Fortive in a report on Monday, September 28th. They set a “hold” rating and a $60.00 target price on the stock. Truist Financial reissued a “hold” rating and set a $65.00 price target (up from $63.00) on shares of Fortive in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Fortive from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Argus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $68.00 target price on shares of Fortive in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.36.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Fortive in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,626,463,000. Flossbach Von Storch SE acquired a new stake in shares of Fortive during the second quarter worth approximately $739,668,000. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortive in the second quarter worth $527,526,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new stake in shares of Fortive in the second quarter worth $211,807,000. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its holdings in Fortive by 0.5% in the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 3,205,043 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $175,668,000 after acquiring an additional 15,711 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

About Fortive

Fortive Corporation (NYSE: FTV) is a diversified industrial technology company that develops and provides products, software and services designed to improve the productivity, safety, reliability and efficiency of businesses and public-sector organizations. Its offerings support customers in industries including manufacturing, healthcare, utilities, transportation, commercial facilities and government.

The company’s portfolio includes electronic test and measurement equipment, calibration and asset-management solutions, workplace and facility-management software, engineering and infrastructure software, product identification and traceability systems, and healthcare technology.