Raymond James & Associates Acquires 51,690 Shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 15.0% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 395,488 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 51,690 shares during the quarter. Raymond James & Associates’ holdings in Fortive were worth $31,216,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of FTV. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in shares of Fortive by 47.1% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 6,244,117 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $537,119,000 after buying an additional 1,999,792 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its holdings in Fortive by 19.3% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 6,463,772 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $554,253,000 after acquiring an additional 1,045,245 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in Fortive by 78.0% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 853,187 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $63,221,000 after acquiring an additional 373,957 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of Fortive by 70.1% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 896,550 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $77,058,000 after acquiring an additional 369,351 shares during the period. Finally, D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. grew its position in shares of Fortive by 1,053.5% in the second quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 382,707 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $28,359,000 after purchasing an additional 349,530 shares during the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on FTV. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Fortive from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $90.00 to $92.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Fortive from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Fortive from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Fortive from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Fortive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Fortive currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.36.

Insider Transactions at Fortive

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

Fortive Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of FTV opened at $75.51 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $74.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $74.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Fortive Co. has a one year low of $63.05 and a one year high of $87.10. The company has a market cap of $26.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.12.

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

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 17th were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. Fortive’s payout ratio is 12.65%.

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.