Fortive Corporation $FTV Shares Purchased by Generali Asset Management SPA SGR

Key Points

• Generali Asset Management SPA SGR increased its stake in Fortive Corporation by 110.4% in Q2, owning over 41,000 shares valued at approximately $2.14 million.
• Fortive has seen significant activity from other institutional investors, with Dodge & Cox boosting its holdings by 181.5% and Price T Rowe Associates increasing theirs by 50.2% in the first quarter.
• Fortive's stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" with an average target price of $61.93, despite some analyst downgrades and a recent cut to its dividend.

Generali Asset Management SPA SGR boosted its position in Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV - Free Report) by 110.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 41,104 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 21,571 shares during the period. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR's holdings in Fortive were worth $2,143,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dodge & Cox lifted its position in Fortive by 181.5% in the first quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 21,900,363 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,602,669,000 after purchasing an additional 14,120,456 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Fortive by 50.2% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 13,112,403 shares of the technology company's stock worth $959,567,000 after purchasing an additional 4,382,242 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Fortive by 96.6% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,626,962 shares of the technology company's stock worth $411,781,000 after purchasing an additional 2,764,432 shares during the period. Select Equity Group L.P. lifted its position in Fortive by 4.9% in the first quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 4,509,598 shares of the technology company's stock worth $330,012,000 after purchasing an additional 212,025 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Fortive by 2.8% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,067,929 shares of the technology company's stock worth $297,691,000 after purchasing an additional 109,307 shares during the period. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on FTV. Zacks Research upgraded Fortive from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, September 15th. Cowen downgraded Fortive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Fortive from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Fortive to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Mizuho cut their price objective on Fortive from $85.00 to $65.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fortive currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $61.93.

Fortive Price Performance

FTV opened at $48.72 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $48.44 and a 200-day moving average of $58.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.95, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 1.15. Fortive Corporation has a 12-month low of $46.34 and a 12-month high of $83.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, June 9th. The technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The company had revenue of $1.07 billion during the quarter. Fortive had a return on equity of 11.96% and a net margin of 13.62%. Equities analysts forecast that Fortive Corporation will post 4.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 12th were issued a $0.06 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 12th. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Fortive's dividend payout ratio is presently 10.81%.

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.

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