Natixis Advisors LLC Has $3.44 Million Position in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 43,593 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 737 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Fortive were worth $3,441,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Boston Partners increased its stake in Fortive by 19.3% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 6,463,772 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $554,253,000 after acquiring an additional 1,045,245 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in shares of Fortive by 47.1% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 6,244,117 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $537,119,000 after buying an additional 1,999,792 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its stake in Fortive by 14,635.7% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 4,000,000 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $315,720,000 after buying an additional 3,972,855 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Fortive by 8.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,668,448 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $197,726,000 after acquiring an additional 205,893 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Select Equity Group L.P. raised its stake in Fortive by 6.8% during the second quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 2,641,314 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $195,721,000 after acquiring an additional 168,368 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on FTV. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Fortive in a report on Friday, September 6th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $89.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Fortive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Wolfe Research cut shares of Fortive from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Barclays dropped their price target on Fortive from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on Fortive from $85.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.82.

Insider Transactions at Fortive

In related news, CFO Charles E. Mclaughlin sold 6,864 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.03, for a total transaction of $508,141.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 73,391 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,433,135.73. This trade represents a 8.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 5,000 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.58, for a total value of $382,900.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 48,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,702,336.68. This trade represents a 9.37 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 197,895 shares of company stock worth $14,261,051 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.01% of the company’s stock.

Fortive Stock Up 1.9 %

FTV stock opened at $78.42 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $27.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $75.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $74.16. Fortive Co. has a 1-year low of $66.15 and a 1-year high of $87.10.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last posted its quarterly 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 net margin of 14.35% and a return on equity of 12.56%. The company had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.55 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.85 EPS. Fortive’s revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Fortive Co. will post 3.85 EPS for the current year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.75%.

Fortive 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.