Barclays Reaffirms Equal Weight Rating for Fortive (NYSE:FTV)

Key Points

• Fortive has been downgraded from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating by Barclays, reflecting a change in market sentiment.
• Recent earnings results showed Fortive's EPS of $0.58 missed analyst expectations, with quarterly revenue declining 0.4% year-over-year.
• Institutional investors have significantly increased their stakes in Fortive, with Dodge & Cox raising its position by 181.5% in the first quarter.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "equal weight" rating reissued by Barclays in a research note issued on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They presently have a $54.00 price objective on the technology company's stock, down from their previous price objective of $58.00. Barclays's price target would indicate a potential upside of 12.68% from the company's previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on FTV. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on Fortive from $58.00 to $56.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Mizuho reduced their price target on Fortive from $85.00 to $65.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Fortive to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, July 5th. BNP Paribas reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Fortive in a report on Thursday, June 12th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reduced their price target on Fortive from $90.00 to $65.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Fortive presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $65.57.

Fortive Trading Up 0.3%

FTV traded up $0.12 during trading on Thursday, reaching $47.92. The company had a trading volume of 655,627 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,296,110. Fortive has a 12-month low of $46.34 and a 12-month high of $83.32. The company has a market cap of $16.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.59, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.98. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $56.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.58.

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

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

Institutional Trading of Fortive

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FTV. Dodge & Cox increased its position in shares of Fortive by 181.5% during the first 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 bought a new stake in shares of Fortive during the second quarter valued at approximately $357,602,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position 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 valued at $654,763,000 after purchasing an additional 5,429,566 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its position 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 valued at $3,221,036,000 after purchasing an additional 3,810,997 shares during the period. Finally, Viking Global Investors LP increased its position in shares of Fortive by 22.9% during the second quarter. Viking Global Investors LP now owns 15,912,624 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $829,525,000 after purchasing an additional 2,962,502 shares during the period. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.