ING Groep NV Acquires 45,458 Shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

ING Groep NV boosted its holdings in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 34.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 178,313 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 45,458 shares during the quarter. ING Groep NV’s holdings in Fortive were worth $13,373,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in FTV. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its stake in Fortive by 14,635.7% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 4,000,000 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $315,720,000 after acquiring an additional 3,972,855 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Fortive by 1,005.9% in the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,937,153 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $152,899,000 after purchasing an additional 1,761,983 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Fortive by 13.8% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 8,041,324 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $634,701,000 after purchasing an additional 977,428 shares in the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Fortive by 1,014.1% in the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 924,671 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $72,984,000 after purchasing an additional 841,671 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in shares of Fortive by 59.3% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,359,069 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $107,271,000 after purchasing an additional 505,882 shares in the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on FTV shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Fortive from $92.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. StockNews.com cut Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Argus restated a “hold” rating on shares of Fortive in a report on Monday, November 18th. Barclays dropped their target price on Fortive from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, UBS Group assumed coverage on Fortive in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $84.00 target price for the company. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.64.

Fortive Trading Down 1.3 %

NYSE FTV opened at $81.94 on Friday. Fortive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $66.15 and a fifty-two week high of $87.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.16. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $78.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $75.99. The stock has a market cap of $28.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.15.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 7th. The technology company reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 period in the previous year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Fortive Co. will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.56%.

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.