Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Lowers Stock Position in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado reduced its stake in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 3.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 48,787 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,580 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado’s holdings in Fortive were worth $3,615,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of FTV. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its stake in Fortive by 9.9% in the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 15,060 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,109,000 after purchasing an additional 1,357 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Fortive by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 113,788 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $8,378,000 after acquiring an additional 2,635 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in shares of Fortive by 61.2% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 17,929 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,320,000 after acquiring an additional 6,810 shares in the last quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Fortive during the fourth quarter worth approximately $309,000. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Fortive by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 130,487 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $9,608,000 after acquiring an additional 2,840 shares in the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Fortive Stock Performance

NYSE:FTV opened at $76.34 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $26.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.11. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $72.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $76.12. Fortive Co. has a twelve month low of $63.05 and a twelve month high of $87.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.57 billion. Fortive had a net margin of 14.39% and a return on equity of 12.32%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.85 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Fortive Co. will post 3.82 EPS for the current year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.65%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on FTV. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Fortive from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th. TD Cowen raised shares of Fortive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $75.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Fortive from $89.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $77.00 target price on shares of Fortive in a report on Friday, September 6th. Finally, Raymond James upgraded shares of Fortive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Fortive presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.23.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Charles E. Mclaughlin sold 6,864 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.03, for a total transaction of $508,141.92. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 73,391 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,433,135.73. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CFO Charles E. Mclaughlin sold 6,864 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.03, for a total value of $508,141.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 73,391 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,433,135.73. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Jonathan L. Schwarz sold 14,223 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 68,161 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,030,281.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.01% of the company’s stock.

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.