Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Purchases 33,642 Shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its position in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 184.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 51,916 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 33,642 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Fortive were worth $3,894,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wedmont Private Capital grew its holdings in shares of Fortive by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 3,346 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $252,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. Dynasty Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Fortive by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Dynasty Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,436 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,083,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares during the period. Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC increased its position in shares of Fortive by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC now owns 8,854 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $699,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Fortive by 13.4% during the 4th quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 1,400 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $105,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the period. Finally, Webster Bank N. A. boosted its holdings in shares of Fortive by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 2,696 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $202,000 after buying an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Fortive Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of Fortive stock opened at $75.96 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $78.62 and its 200-day moving average price is $76.96. The company has a market cap of $25.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.19, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.16. Fortive Co. has a 12-month low of $66.15 and a 12-month high of $86.21. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 7th. The technology company reported $1.17 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.05. Fortive had a net margin of 13.36% and a return on equity of 13.15%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.98 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Fortive Co. will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.56%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortive

In other news, CAO Christopher M. Mulhall sold 6,493 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.95, for a total value of $519,115.35. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,283 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,941,425.85. This represents a 21.10 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 5,688 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.52, for a total transaction of $457,997.76. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 47,141 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,795,793.32. This represents a 10.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 243,385 shares of company stock valued at $19,508,529 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FTV has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Citigroup cut shares of Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $92.00 to $86.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Fortive from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Fortive from $77.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on Fortive from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.64.

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.