US Bancorp DE Has $15.69 Million Holdings in Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV)

Key Points

• US Bancorp DE reduced its stake in Fortive Corporation by 6.7%, selling 15,485 shares and now owns approximately 0.06% of the company worth $15.69 million.
• Several institutional investors increased their holdings in Fortive during the previous quarter, with T. Rowe Price raising its stake by 9.7% and Price T Rowe Associates increasing theirs by 164.5%.
• Fortive has approved a stock buyback program for up to 15.63 million shares, indicating management believes the stock is undervalued.

US Bancorp DE decreased its holdings in shares of Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV - Free Report) by 6.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 214,390 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 15,485 shares during the quarter. US Bancorp DE owned 0.06% of Fortive worth $15,689,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its position in Fortive by 11.1% in the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 10,793 shares of the technology company's stock worth $790,000 after purchasing an additional 1,076 shares during the period. Drake & Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of Fortive by 28.7% in the first quarter. Drake & Associates LLC now owns 22,298 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,632,000 after buying an additional 4,978 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Fortive by 13.1% in the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 51,343 shares of the technology company's stock worth $3,757,000 after buying an additional 5,963 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Fortive in the 1st quarter valued at about $3,542,000. Finally, Perpetual Ltd boosted its holdings in Fortive by 60.0% during the 1st quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 239,735 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $17,544,000 after acquiring an additional 89,891 shares during the period. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on FTV. TD Cowen downgraded Fortive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and reduced their price target for the company from $85.00 to $50.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Fortive from $88.00 to $82.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Cowen lowered Fortive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Melius cut shares of Fortive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $62.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Fortive from $87.00 to $65.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $65.86.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortive

In related news, CEO James A. Lico sold 175,000 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 428,585 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,029,554. This trade represents a 28.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 14,327 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president directly owned 51,750 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,823,290. This trade represents a 21.68% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.92% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Fortive Price Performance

Shares of FTV stock traded up $1.20 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $48.42. The company's stock had a trading volume of 8,108,041 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,079,945. The business has a fifty day moving average of $60.72 and a 200-day moving average of $69.22. Fortive Corporation has a twelve month low of $46.35 and a twelve month high of $83.32. The stock has a market cap of $16.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The technology company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.60 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $1.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.54 billion. Fortive had a return on equity of 11.96% and a net margin of 13.62%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.93 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Fortive Corporation will post 4.05 EPS for the current year.

Fortive declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, May 27th that allows the company to repurchase 15,630,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company's board 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.