Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Lowers Stake in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC reduced its stake in shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 8.0% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 14,806 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,294 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s holdings in Fortive were worth $1,169,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in FTV. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fortive during the second quarter valued at $30,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Fortive in the second quarter worth about $30,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in Fortive in the second quarter worth about $31,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Fortive in the first quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. lifted its stake in Fortive by 71.0% in the third quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 424 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 176 shares during the period. 94.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Fortive news, SVP Jonathan L. Schwarz sold 14,223 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 68,161 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,030,281.80. This represents a 17.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Charles E. Mclaughlin sold 6,864 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.03, for a total value of $508,141.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 73,391 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,433,135.73. This represents a 8.55 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 197,895 shares of company stock worth $14,261,051. 1.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Fortive from $85.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Fortive in a research note on Friday, September 6th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $89.00 price objective for the company. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Fortive from $90.00 to $89.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Fortive from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $90.00 to $92.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Mizuho raised shares of Fortive from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $80.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Fortive has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.82.

Fortive Stock Performance

Shares of Fortive stock opened at $74.82 on Friday. Fortive Co. has a one year low of $66.15 and a one year high of $87.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.25. The company has a market capitalization of $25.96 billion, a PE ratio of 29.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $75.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $74.19.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The technology company reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.04. Fortive had a net margin of 14.35% and a return on equity of 12.56%. The firm had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.55 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.85 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Fortive Co. will post 3.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 12.75%.

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.