Bearing Point Capital LLC Takes $3.35 Million Position in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Bearing Point Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 44,606 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $3,345,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in shares of Fortive by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 549,429 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $41,207,000 after purchasing an additional 15,305 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Fortive by 77.9% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 550,369 shares of the technology company's stock worth $41,278,000 after purchasing an additional 240,976 shares in the last quarter. AXA S.A. lifted its position in Fortive by 11.3% during the fourth quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 39,957 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,997,000 after buying an additional 4,041 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co boosted its holdings in shares of Fortive by 42.8% during the 4th quarter. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co now owns 6,936 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $520,000 after buying an additional 2,080 shares in the last quarter. Finally, South Plains Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Fortive in the 4th quarter worth about $83,000. 94.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on FTV shares. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Fortive from $68.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday. Barclays dropped their price target on Fortive from $85.00 to $84.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com lowered Fortive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Citigroup dropped their target price on Fortive from $84.00 to $69.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Fortive from $90.00 to $73.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Fortive has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $80.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Charles E. Mclaughlin sold 32,085 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.86, for a total transaction of $2,530,223.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 76,126 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,003,296.36. The trade was a 29.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO James A. Lico sold 196,117 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.38, for a total value of $15,763,884.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 528,851 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,509,043.38. This represents a 27.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 243,385 shares of company stock valued at $19,508,529. Insiders own 1.01% of the company's stock.

Fortive Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE FTV traded down $0.18 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $67.41. 3,482,287 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,419,641. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $70.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $75.05. Fortive Co. has a 52-week low of $60.39 and a 52-week high of $83.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.91 billion, a PE ratio of 28.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

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

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. Fortive's dividend payout ratio is 14.04%.

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.