Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) have received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the thirteen brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $85.69.

FTV has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Fortive from $101.00 to $98.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Fortive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 13th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Fortive from $93.00 to $83.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Fortive from $92.00 to $84.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Fortive from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FTV. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of Fortive by 34.2% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 527,199 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $38,828,000 after acquiring an additional 134,259 shares during the last quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Fortive by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. now owns 832,888 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $61,326,000 after purchasing an additional 35,688 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its position in Fortive by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 577,159 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $42,496,000 after buying an additional 13,251 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of Fortive by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 5,847,724 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $430,568,000 after buying an additional 33,990 shares during the period. Finally, United Services Automobile Association bought a new stake in shares of Fortive during the fourth quarter worth $885,000. 94.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Fortive Price Performance

NYSE:FTV opened at $72.30 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 1.17. The stock has a market cap of $25.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.58, a PEG ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $75.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $78.21. Fortive has a one year low of $63.05 and a one year high of $87.10.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The technology company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.04. Fortive had a net margin of 14.68% and a return on equity of 12.22%. The business had revenue of $1.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.53 billion. Analysts anticipate that Fortive will post 3.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 31st were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 31st. Fortive’s payout ratio is presently 12.65%.

Fortive Company 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.