Rhumbline Advisers Acquires 70,554 Shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Rhumbline Advisers raised its stake in shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV - Free Report) by 11.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 662,973 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 70,554 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers owned approximately 0.20% of Fortive worth $48,519,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in FTV. Parvin Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Fortive during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Fortive in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Fortive in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Quarry LP lifted its holdings in Fortive by 229.6% in the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 501 shares of the technology company's stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 349 shares during the period. Finally, BankPlus Trust Department purchased a new stake in Fortive in the fourth quarter worth about $59,000. 94.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on FTV. Citigroup lowered their target price on Fortive from $84.00 to $69.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. 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. BNP Paribas cut Fortive from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $67.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Barclays raised their target price on Fortive from $84.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Fortive from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Fortive has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $82.08.

Insider Activity

In other Fortive news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 14,327 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.88, for a total value of $1,058,478.76. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 51,750 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,823,290. This trade represents a 21.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James A. Lico sold 175,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.40, for a total value of $12,670,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 428,585 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $31,029,554. This represents a 28.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.01% of the company's stock.

Fortive Stock Down 0.3%

NYSE FTV traded down $0.23 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $71.69. The stock had a trading volume of 1,906,990 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,599,394. The stock has a market cap of $24.37 billion, a PE ratio of 30.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.10. Fortive Co. has a 1 year low of $60.39 and a 1 year high of $83.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $68.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $74.60.

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

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. Fortive's payout ratio is presently 14.04%.

Fortive announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Tuesday, May 27th that permits the company to buyback 15,630,000 shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

About Fortive

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.