CX Institutional Invests $189,000 in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

CX Institutional acquired a new position in shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 2,589 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $189,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Parvin Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fortive during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. American National Bank & Trust bought a new position in Fortive during the first quarter worth about $26,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Fortive during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new position in Fortive during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Quarry LP grew its holdings in Fortive by 229.6% during the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 501 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 349 shares during the period. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Fortive

In other Fortive news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 14,327 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.88, for a total transaction of $1,058,478.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 51,750 shares in the company, valued at $3,823,290. The trade was a 21.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO James A. Lico sold 175,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.40, for a total transaction of $12,670,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 428,585 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,029,554. This represents a 28.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.92% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FTV has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Truist Financial reduced their price target on Fortive from $90.00 to $81.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $86.00 price target (up previously from $84.00) on shares of Fortive in a report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Citigroup reduced their price target on Fortive from $84.00 to $69.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Fortive from $73.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, BNP Paribas cut Fortive from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $67.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.62.

Fortive Trading Down 2.3%

Shares of FTV stock opened at $69.32 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock has a market cap of $23.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.11. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $69.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $74.27. Fortive Co. has a 1 year low of $60.39 and a 1 year high of $83.32.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.85. The business had revenue of $1.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.49 billion. Fortive had a return on equity of 13.15% and a net margin of 13.36%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.83 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Fortive Co. will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortive declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, May 27th that permits the company to buyback 15,630,000 shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 14.04%.

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.