Fortive (NYSE:FTV) Stock Rating Lowered by Citigroup

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) was downgraded by investment analysts at Citigroup from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note issued on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $86.00 target price on the technology company’s stock, down from their prior target price of $92.00. Citigroup’s target price suggests a potential upside of 9.81% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the company. Argus restated a “hold” rating on shares of Fortive in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Wolfe Research lowered Fortive from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Raymond James upgraded Fortive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Fortive from $85.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Fortive from $82.00 to $77.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.73.

Fortive Trading Down 0.2 %

Fortive stock opened at $78.32 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Fortive has a 52 week low of $66.15 and a 52 week high of $87.10. The company has a market capitalization of $27.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.14. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $76.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $74.30.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The technology company reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.04. Fortive had a return on equity of 12.56% and a net margin of 14.35%. The firm had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.55 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.85 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Fortive will post 3.85 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Fortive

In other Fortive news, SVP Jonathan L. Schwarz sold 14,223 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 68,161 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,030,281.80. This trade represents a 17.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 171,808 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.71, for a total value of $12,320,351.68. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 42,651 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,058,503.21. This trade represents a 80.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 197,895 shares of company stock valued at $14,261,051. 1.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Fortive

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of FTV. CWM LLC increased its stake in shares of Fortive by 10.2% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 9,523 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $706,000 after acquiring an additional 879 shares during the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co grew its holdings in shares of Fortive by 29.0% during the 2nd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 29,578 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,192,000 after purchasing an additional 6,658 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Fortive by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 40,212 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,980,000 after purchasing an additional 943 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Fortive by 8.5% during the 2nd quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 9,211 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $683,000 after purchasing an additional 724 shares during the period. Finally, Addenda Capital Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Fortive by 8.8% during the 2nd quarter. Addenda Capital Inc. now owns 98,487 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,298,000 after purchasing an additional 7,936 shares during the period. 94.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.