Analysts Set Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) Price Target at $81.92

Shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV - Get Free Report) have received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the fifteen research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $81.92.

A number of analysts have weighed in on FTV shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Fortive from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Fortive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Fortive from $90.00 to $81.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Fortive from $88.00 to $82.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, BNP Paribas downgraded Fortive from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $67.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th.

Fortive Stock Performance

NYSE:FTV traded up $0.01 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $71.52. The company's stock had a trading volume of 214,997 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,938,847. Fortive has a 12-month low of $60.38 and a 12-month high of $83.32. The stock has a market cap of $24.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.32, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $69.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $74.75.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting 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 the consensus estimate of $1.49 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.83 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Fortive will post 4.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

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

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

Insider Activity at Fortive

In other Fortive news, CEO James A. Lico sold 175,000 shares of the company's 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 428,585 shares in the company, valued at $31,029,554. This 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 link. Also, CFO Charles E. Mclaughlin sold 32,085 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.86, for a total value of $2,530,223.10. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 76,126 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,003,296.36. This trade represents a 29.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 224,414 shares of company stock worth $16,496,010. 1.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in FTV. Dodge & Cox boosted its position in shares of Fortive by 181.5% in the 1st quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 21,900,363 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,602,669,000 after purchasing an additional 14,120,456 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Fortive in the 4th quarter valued at about $412,445,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Fortive by 164.5% in 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 period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Fortive by 9.7% in the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 3,810,997 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Fortive by 96.6% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,626,962 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $411,781,000 after purchasing an additional 2,764,432 shares during the period. 94.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.