Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV) Stock Rated "Hold" by Wall Street Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts rate Fortive “Hold” overall: Of 13 analysts, nine recommend holding, two recommend selling and two recommend buying. The average 12-month price target is $64.36.
• Fortive’s latest quarterly results exceeded expectations, with earnings per share of $0.77 versus the $0.70 consensus and revenue of $1.11 billion, up 7.8% year over year.
• The company increased its quarterly dividend to $0.07 per share, although the annualized yield remains modest at 0.4%. Institutional investors own approximately 94.94% of Fortive’s outstanding shares.

Shares of Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV - Get Free Report) have received an average rating of "Hold" from the thirteen analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have issued a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $64.36.

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird set a $75.00 price target on Fortive in a report on Thursday. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Fortive from $59.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Fortive from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research report on Thursday. Truist Financial reaffirmed a "hold" rating and issued a $65.00 price objective (up from $63.00) on shares of Fortive in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Mizuho set a $55.00 target price on shares of Fortive in a research note on Thursday.

Fortive Stock Performance

Shares of FTV stock opened at $65.09 on Friday. Fortive has a 12-month low of $49.03 and a 12-month high of $67.03. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $57.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.65. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The company has a market cap of $19.37 billion, a PE ratio of 31.00, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.07.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 28th. The technology company reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.07. Fortive had a return on equity of 15.79% and a net margin of 14.83%. The firm had revenue of $1.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.07 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.68 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Fortive will post 3.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 4th were issued a $0.07 dividend. This is an increase from Fortive's previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 4th. Fortive's dividend payout ratio is 13.33%.

Insider Activity at Fortive

In other news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 8,662 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.59, for a total transaction of $533,492.58. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 79,118 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,872,877.62. The trade was a 9.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.65% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Fortive

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new position in shares of Fortive during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $11,854,000. First Nebraska Trust Co acquired a new stake in Fortive in the 1st quarter valued at $2,453,000. Sterling Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Fortive in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,149,000. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new stake in Fortive in the 2nd quarter valued at $99,326,000. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB purchased a new stake in Fortive in the 2nd quarter worth $7,212,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.94% of the company's stock.

About Fortive

Fortive Corporation NYSE: FTV is a diversified industrial technology company that develops and provides products, software and services designed to improve the productivity, safety, reliability and efficiency of businesses and public-sector organizations. Its offerings support customers in industries including manufacturing, healthcare, utilities, transportation, commercial facilities and government.

The company's portfolio includes electronic test and measurement equipment, calibration and asset-management solutions, workplace and facility-management software, engineering and infrastructure software, product identification and traceability systems, and healthcare technology.

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