Analysts Set Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) Target Price at $87.36

Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $87.36.

FTV has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded Fortive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Fortive from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. TD Cowen raised shares of Fortive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $75.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Fortive from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Raymond James upgraded Fortive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 5th.

Fortive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FTV opened at $78.02 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $73.55 and a 200 day moving average of $75.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a market cap of $27.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.12. Fortive has a 12 month low of $63.05 and a 12 month high of $87.10.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. Fortive had a net margin of 14.39% and a return on equity of 12.32%. The firm had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.85 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Fortive will post 3.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 17th were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. Fortive’s payout ratio is 12.65%.

Insider Activity at Fortive

In related news, SVP Jonathan L. Schwarz sold 14,223 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.80, for a total transaction of $1,049,657.40. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 68,161 shares in the company, valued at $5,030,281.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Charles E. Mclaughlin sold 6,864 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 $5,433,135.73. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Jonathan L. Schwarz sold 14,223 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.80, for a total transaction of $1,049,657.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 68,161 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,030,281.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Fortive

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FTV. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its holdings in Fortive by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 200,416 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $15,819,000 after buying an additional 8,691 shares in the last quarter. Novare Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortive in the third quarter worth approximately $6,851,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortive in the third quarter worth approximately $41,000. Guinness Asset Management LTD raised its holdings in shares of Fortive by 6.1% during the third quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 6,816 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $538,000 after purchasing an additional 394 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH lifted its position in Fortive by 0.9% during the third quarter. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH now owns 22,819 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,801,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.94% 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.