Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Acquires New Stake in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 21,200 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,561,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. PCA Investment Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Fortive during the second quarter valued at $26,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in Fortive during the third quarter valued at $25,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC purchased a new stake in Fortive during the third quarter valued at $28,000. First Command Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in Fortive during the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC bought a new stake in Fortive during the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Fortive Price Performance

Shares of Fortive stock opened at $79.49 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $84.41 and a 200 day moving average of $76.02. Fortive Co. has a 12 month low of $62.70 and a 12 month high of $87.10. The firm has a market cap of $27.93 billion, a PE ratio of 32.58, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a current ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The technology company reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.05. Fortive had a return on equity of 12.12% and a net margin of 14.27%. The company had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.88 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Fortive Co. will post 3.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, May 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 31st. Fortive’s payout ratio is presently 13.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortive

In other Fortive news, CEO Tamara S. Newcombe sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.00, for a total transaction of $425,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 55,017 shares in the company, valued at $4,676,445. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Fortive news, CEO Tamara S. Newcombe sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.00, for a total transaction of $425,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 55,017 shares in the company, valued at $4,676,445. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 9,106 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.50, for a total value of $787,669.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 36,558 shares in the company, valued at $3,162,267. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 63,937 shares of company stock worth $5,475,122 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.95% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on FTV shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Fortive from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $95.00 to $90.00 in a report on Wednesday. Barclays boosted their price target on Fortive from $89.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Vertical Research lowered Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Fortive from $79.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on Fortive from $90.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.54.

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.