Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) Short Interest Up 7.0% in December

Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,510,000 shares, a growth of 7.0% from the November 30th total of 3,280,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,530,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.4 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on FTV shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Fortive from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $90.00 to $92.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Fortive from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group initiated coverage on Fortive in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $84.00 price target on the stock. Argus reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Fortive in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered Fortive from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Fortive has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.82.

Fortive Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE FTV opened at $75.00 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.88, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.25. Fortive has a one year low of $66.15 and a one year high of $87.10. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $75.87 and its 200 day moving average price is $74.52.

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

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. Fortive’s payout ratio is 12.75%.

Insider Activity at Fortive

In related news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 5,000 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.58, for a total transaction of $382,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 48,346 shares in the company, valued at $3,702,336.68. The trade was a 9.37 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 171,808 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.71, for a total value of $12,320,351.68. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 42,651 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,058,503.21. This trade represents a 80.11 % decrease in their position. 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

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of FTV. Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in Fortive by 15.0% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 395,488 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $31,216,000 after acquiring an additional 51,690 shares during the period. Atomi Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Fortive by 4.8% during the third quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,932 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $389,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares in the last quarter. Versor Investments LP purchased a new position in shares of Fortive in the second quarter valued at $749,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Fortive by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 406,085 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $32,052,000 after purchasing an additional 10,795 shares in the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new stake in Fortive during the 3rd quarter worth $1,346,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

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.