Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Cuts Stock Holdings in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lowered its holdings in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV - Free Report) by 6.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 119,152 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 8,665 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio's holdings in Fortive were worth $8,936,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Fortive by 9.7% during 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 buying an additional 3,810,997 shares during the last quarter. Flossbach Von Storch SE lifted its position in Fortive by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Flossbach Von Storch SE now owns 11,903,240 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $892,743,000 after acquiring an additional 137,479 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake 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 valued at $654,763,000 after purchasing an additional 5,429,566 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Fortive by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,294,930 shares of the technology company's stock worth $620,480,000 after purchasing an additional 103,015 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners increased its holdings in Fortive by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 7,904,282 shares of the technology company's stock worth $594,108,000 after purchasing an additional 166,123 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.94% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FTV has been the topic of several analyst reports. 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 research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen cut Fortive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Truist Financial cut their price objective 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. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Fortive from $68.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Fortive from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Fortive has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $81.92.

Fortive Stock Performance

Shares of Fortive stock traded down $0.90 on Friday, reaching $70.17. 4,282,229 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,585,253. The company has a 50 day moving average of $69.02 and a 200 day moving average of $74.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 0.91. Fortive Co. has a 52 week low of $60.39 and a 52 week high of $83.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.85 billion, a PE ratio of 29.73, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.10.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 13.15% and a net margin of 13.36%. The business had revenue of $1.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.49 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.83 earnings per share. Fortive's revenue was down 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Fortive Co. will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. Fortive's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.04%.

Fortive declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, May 27th that permits the company to repurchase 15,630,000 shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fortive news, CEO James A. Lico sold 175,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.40, for a total value of $12,670,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 428,585 shares in the company, valued at $31,029,554. This trade represents a 28.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 14,327 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.88, for a total value of $1,058,478.76. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 51,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,823,290. This represents a 21.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company 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.