Insider Selling: Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) SVP Sells 5,688 Shares of Stock

Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 5,688 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.52, for a total value of $457,997.76. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 47,141 shares in the company, valued at $3,795,793.32. This trade represents a 10.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Fortive Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE FTV traded up $0.13 during trading on Friday, hitting $79.73. The company had a trading volume of 4,220,681 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,534,107. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $78.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $76.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.16. Fortive Co. has a 12 month low of $66.15 and a 12 month high of $87.10.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 7th. The technology company reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.05. Fortive had a net margin of 13.36% and a return on equity of 13.15%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Fortive Co. will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. Fortive’s payout ratio is presently 13.56%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortive

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of FTV. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Fortive during the third quarter worth about $25,000. Parvin Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Fortive in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Fortive during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortive during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of Fortive by 186.8% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 456 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 297 shares during the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on FTV. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Fortive from $92.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Fortive from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Fortive from $77.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Barclays dropped their price target on Fortive from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on Fortive from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.64.

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.