Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Buys Shares of 13,745 Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 13,745 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $1,031,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dodge & Cox acquired a new stake in shares of Fortive in the 4th quarter valued at about $583,493,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Fortive during the 4th quarter worth approximately $412,445,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Fortive by 164.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,730,161 shares of the technology company's stock worth $654,763,000 after acquiring an additional 5,429,566 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Fortive by 9.7% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 42,947,135 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $3,221,036,000 after acquiring an additional 3,810,997 shares during the period. Finally, Third Point LLC acquired a new stake in Fortive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $142,500,000. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Fortive from $88.00 to $82.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Fortive from $90.00 to $81.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Citigroup cut their price target on Fortive from $84.00 to $69.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. BNP Paribas lowered Fortive from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $67.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Fortive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $81.92.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortive

In related news, CAO Christopher M. Mulhall sold 6,493 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,283 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,941,425.85. The trade was a 21.10% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James A. Lico sold 196,117 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.38, for a total value of $15,763,884.46. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 528,851 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,509,043.38. The trade was a 27.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 432,712 shares of company stock valued at $33,237,008. Company insiders own 1.01% of the company's stock.

Fortive Stock Performance

NYSE:FTV traded down $0.66 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $71.29. The company's stock had a trading volume of 737,041 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,509,506. Fortive Co. has a 12 month low of $60.39 and a 12 month high of $83.32. The firm has a market cap of $24.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.10. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $69.74 and a 200-day moving average of $74.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.16.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.85. Fortive had a net margin of 13.36% and a return on equity of 13.15%. The company had revenue of $1.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.49 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.83 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Fortive Co. will post 4.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. Fortive's payout ratio is 14.04%.

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.