Liberty Capital Management Inc. Sells 4,003 Shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Liberty Capital Management Inc. lowered its stake in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 9.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 37,619 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 4,003 shares during the quarter. Liberty Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Fortive were worth $2,821,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Fortive in the third quarter worth about $25,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Fortive by 186.8% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 456 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 297 shares in the last quarter. Crews Bank & Trust bought a new stake in Fortive in the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Albion Financial Group UT purchased a new stake in Fortive during the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new position in Fortive during the third quarter valued at $41,000. Institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on FTV. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Fortive from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Fortive from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Fortive from $92.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Citigroup downgraded Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $92.00 to $86.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on Fortive from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $86.45.

Fortive Trading Down 0.9 %

FTV stock opened at $79.12 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $27.45 billion, a PE ratio of 31.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 0.99. Fortive Co. has a 12 month low of $66.15 and a 12 month high of $87.10. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $77.65 and its 200 day moving average is $75.36.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 7th. The technology company reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.05. Fortive had a net margin of 14.35% and a return on equity of 12.56%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Fortive Co. will post 3.84 EPS for the current year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.75%.

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.