Swiss National Bank lessened its holdings in shares of Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV - Free Report) by 1.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 978,400 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 11,200 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned approximately 0.29% of Fortive worth $71,599,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted 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 worth $3,221,036,000 after acquiring an additional 3,810,997 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Fortive by 164.5% during the fourth 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. Dodge & Cox bought a new stake in shares of Fortive during the fourth quarter worth approximately $583,493,000. Select Equity Group L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Fortive by 20.1% during the fourth quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 4,297,573 shares of the technology company's stock worth $322,318,000 after acquiring an additional 720,250 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Fortive by 15.5% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,958,622 shares of the technology company's stock worth $296,897,000 after acquiring an additional 532,180 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.94% of the company's stock.
Fortive Trading Up 2.3%
NYSE FTV traded up $1.08 on Wednesday, reaching $48.73. The company had a trading volume of 6,250,901 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,306,364. The firm has a market cap of $16.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.08. Fortive Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $46.34 and a fifty-two week high of $83.32. The business has a 50 day moving average of $57.90 and a two-hundred day moving average of $67.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.82.
Fortive (NYSE:FTV - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The technology company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.60 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $1.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.54 billion. Fortive had a net margin of 13.62% and a return on equity of 11.96%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.93 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Fortive Corporation will post 4.05 EPS for the current year.
Fortive announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, May 27th that allows the company to buyback 15,630,000 shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other Fortive news, CEO James A. Lico sold 175,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.40, for a total transaction of $12,670,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 428,585 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,029,554. This trade represents a 28.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.92% of the stock is owned by insiders.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on FTV shares. BNP Paribas restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Fortive in a report on Thursday, June 12th. Melius cut Fortive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $62.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Fortive from $87.00 to $65.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on Fortive from $58.00 to $56.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Fortive from $88.00 to $82.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $65.86.
Read Our Latest Report on Fortive
Fortive Company Profile
(
Free Report)
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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