Cerity Partners LLC Boosts Position in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Cerity Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 64,235 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,295 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Fortive were worth $5,070,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in FTV. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Fortive by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 3,899 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $308,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. RDA Financial Network lifted its stake in shares of Fortive by 3.4% during the second quarter. RDA Financial Network now owns 4,191 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $311,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Fortive by 0.8% in the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 18,507 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,371,000 after buying an additional 146 shares during the period. Andina Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Fortive by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Andina Capital Management LLC now owns 4,433 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $328,000 after buying an additional 147 shares during the period. Finally, Axiom Advisory LLC lifted its position in Fortive by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Axiom Advisory LLC now owns 10,048 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $734,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Fortive news, CFO Charles E. Mclaughlin sold 6,864 shares of the business’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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 73,391 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,433,135.73. The trade was a 8.55 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.58, for a total transaction of $382,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 48,346 shares in the company, valued at $3,702,336.68. The trade was a 9.37 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 197,895 shares of company stock worth $14,261,051 in the last three months. 1.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on FTV shares. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Fortive from $90.00 to $89.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho upgraded shares of Fortive from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $80.00 to $90.00 in a report on Friday, September 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Fortive from $82.00 to $77.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Wolfe Research downgraded Fortive from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Fortive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.82.

Fortive Stock Performance

Fortive stock opened at $79.40 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $27.55 billion, a PE ratio of 31.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.13. Fortive Co. has a 12 month low of $66.15 and a 12 month high of $87.10. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $76.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $74.25. 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 (NYSE:FTV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The technology company reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.04. Fortive had a net margin of 14.35% and a return on equity of 12.56%. The business had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.55 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.85 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Fortive Co. will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a 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.