Fortive (NYSE:FTV) Price Target Increased to $82.00 by Analysts at Wells Fargo & Company

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) had its price objective increased by Wells Fargo & Company from $75.00 to $82.00 in a report released on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the technology company’s stock.

FTV has been the subject of several other reports. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Fortive in a report on Friday, September 6th. They issued an overweight rating and a $89.00 target price for the company. Barclays upped their target price on Fortive from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wolfe Research cut Fortive from an outperform rating to a peer perform rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. StockNews.com raised Fortive from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of Fortive from a hold rating to a buy rating and raised their target price for the stock from $75.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fortive presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $87.36.

Fortive Stock Performance

Shares of Fortive stock opened at $77.26 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.12. The business has a 50-day moving average of $73.23 and a 200 day moving average of $75.44. Fortive has a 12 month low of $63.05 and a 12 month high of $87.10.

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

Fortive Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 17th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Fortive’s payout ratio is currently 12.65%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Charles E. Mclaughlin sold 6,864 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 73,391 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,433,135.73. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Fortive news, SVP Jonathan L. Schwarz sold 14,223 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 68,161 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 available through this link. Also, CFO Charles E. Mclaughlin sold 6,864 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 73,391 shares in the company, valued at $5,433,135.73. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortive

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Fortive during the third quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Guinness Asset Management LTD boosted its position in Fortive by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 6,816 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $538,000 after purchasing an additional 394 shares during the period. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH grew its stake in Fortive by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH now owns 22,819 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,801,000 after buying an additional 207 shares during the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt increased its position in Fortive by 276.2% in the third quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 2,043 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $161,000 after buying an additional 1,500 shares during the period. Finally, Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. increased its position 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 buying an additional 176 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

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.