DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main Grows Stake in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its stake in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV - Free Report) by 261.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,420 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 3,920 shares during the period. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main's holdings in Fortive were worth $406,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of FTV. Dodge & Cox acquired a new stake in Fortive during the 4th quarter worth about $583,493,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Fortive during the 4th quarter worth about $412,445,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Fortive by 164.5% during the 4th 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 during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Fortive by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 42,947,135 shares of the technology company's stock worth $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 during the 4th quarter worth about $142,500,000. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Truist Financial reduced their target price on Fortive from $90.00 to $81.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Fortive from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Fortive from $68.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Fortive from $88.00 to $82.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Fortive from $84.00 to $69.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fortive currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $80.85.

Fortive Stock Performance

Shares of FTV stock traded down $0.33 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $72.37. 3,861,518 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,480,024. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $69.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $74.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. 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 $24.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.10.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting 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 last year, the business posted $0.83 EPS. Fortive's quarterly revenue was down 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Fortive Co. will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. Fortive's dividend payout ratio is 14.04%.

Insider Activity at Fortive

In other news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 14,327 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.88, for a total transaction of $1,058,478.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 51,750 shares in the company, valued at $3,823,290. The trade was a 21.68% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 5,688 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.52, for a total transaction of $457,997.76. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 47,141 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,795,793.32. This trade represents a 10.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 257,712 shares of company stock worth $20,567,008. Corporate insiders own 1.01% of the company's stock.

Fortive Company 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.