Middleton & Co. Inc. MA Acquires 1,073 Shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Middleton & Co. Inc. MA boosted its holdings in shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 130,908 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 1,073 shares during the period. Middleton & Co. Inc. MA’s holdings in Fortive were worth $10,333,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Boston Partners raised its stake in shares of Fortive by 19.3% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 6,463,772 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $554,253,000 after purchasing an additional 1,045,245 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in Fortive by 47.1% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 6,244,117 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $537,119,000 after acquiring an additional 1,999,792 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Fortive by 8.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,668,448 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $197,726,000 after acquiring an additional 205,893 shares during the last quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. boosted its holdings in Fortive by 6.8% during the 2nd quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 2,641,314 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $195,721,000 after acquiring an additional 168,368 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its holdings in shares of Fortive by 3.8% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,565,443 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $190,099,000 after purchasing an additional 94,170 shares during the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Fortive news, CFO Charles E. Mclaughlin sold 6,864 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.03, for a total transaction of $508,141.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 73,391 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,433,135.73. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, CFO Charles E. Mclaughlin sold 6,864 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 73,391 shares in the company, valued at $5,433,135.73. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Jonathan L. Schwarz sold 14,223 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.80, for a total value of $1,049,657.40. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 68,161 shares in the company, valued at $5,030,281.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Fortive from $82.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Wolfe Research lowered Fortive from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Fortive from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Mizuho upgraded Fortive from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $80.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Fortive from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Fortive currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.36.

Fortive Stock Performance

NYSE FTV opened at $74.96 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $75.05 and its 200-day moving average is $74.89. The firm has a market cap of $26.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.12. Fortive Co. has a 12-month low of $63.50 and a 12-month high of $87.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. Fortive had a return on equity of 12.32% and a net margin of 14.39%. The firm had revenue of $1.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.85 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Fortive Co. will post 3.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 17th were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Fortive’s payout ratio is 12.65%.

Fortive 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.