Blair William & Co. IL Has $24.30 Million Position in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Blair William & Co. IL cut its stake in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 9.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 323,979 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 34,282 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Fortive were worth $24,298,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. NEOS Investment Management LLC increased its position in Fortive by 31.3% in the 4th quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 20,866 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,565,000 after purchasing an additional 4,977 shares during the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd grew its stake in shares of Fortive by 23.5% in the 4th quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 36,409 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,731,000 after buying an additional 6,930 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Fortive by 28.4% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,695,319 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $127,149,000 after buying an additional 374,837 shares during the last quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co raised its position in Fortive by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 33,161 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,487,000 after acquiring an additional 1,891 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Fortive by 10.0% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 557,693 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $42,329,000 after acquiring an additional 50,581 shares during the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on FTV shares. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Fortive from $77.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Citigroup cut Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $92.00 to $86.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Fortive from $92.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. StockNews.com lowered Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Fortive from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.18.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Charles E. Mclaughlin sold 32,085 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.86, for a total value of $2,530,223.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 76,126 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,003,296.36. This represents a 29.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 3,002 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.05, for a total value of $237,308.10. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 42,373 shares in the company, valued at $3,349,585.65. The trade was a 6.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 243,385 shares of company stock valued at $19,508,529 over the last ninety days. 1.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Fortive Stock Performance

NYSE FTV opened at $74.66 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $78.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $76.93. Fortive Co. has a 52-week low of $66.15 and a 52-week high of $86.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.16.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 7th. The technology company reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.05. Fortive had a return on equity of 13.15% and a net margin of 13.36%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Fortive Co. will post 4.05 EPS for the current year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.56%.

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.