ST Germain D J Co. Inc. Cuts Position in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

ST Germain D J Co. Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 0.1% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 247,600 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 183 shares during the quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc.’s holdings in Fortive were worth $19,543,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTV. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in 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 increased its holdings in shares of Fortive by 19.3% during the first 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 in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in Fortive by 78.0% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 853,187 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $63,221,000 after purchasing an additional 373,957 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in Fortive by 70.1% during the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 896,550 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $77,058,000 after purchasing an additional 369,351 shares during the last quarter. Finally, D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. increased its stake in Fortive by 1,053.5% during the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Jonathan L. Schwarz sold 14,223 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 68,161 shares in the company, valued at $5,030,281.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, SVP Jonathan L. Schwarz sold 14,223 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.80, for a total value of $1,049,657.40. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 68,161 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,030,281.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Charles E. Mclaughlin sold 6,864 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on FTV. Wolfe Research downgraded Fortive from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Fortive from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $90.00 to $92.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Mizuho upgraded shares of Fortive from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $80.00 to $90.00 in a report on Friday, September 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $77.00 price target on shares of Fortive in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Fortive from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Five investment 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, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.36.

Fortive Price Performance

NYSE FTV traded up $0.20 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $77.47. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,083,545 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,853,251. 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 1-year low of $63.05 and a 1-year high of $87.10. The company’s 50-day moving average is $74.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $75.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.12.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.57 billion. Fortive had a net margin of 14.39% and a return on equity of 12.32%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.85 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Fortive Co. will post 3.82 EPS for the current year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 17th were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.