Nebula Research & Development LLC Buys Shares of 4,359 Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Nebula Research & Development LLC acquired a new stake in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 4,359 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $327,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of FTV. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its stake 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 purchasing an additional 3,810,997 shares during the last quarter. Flossbach Von Storch SE lifted its holdings in shares of Fortive by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Flossbach Von Storch SE now owns 11,903,240 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $892,743,000 after purchasing an additional 137,479 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Fortive by 164.5% during 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 buying an additional 5,429,566 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Fortive by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,294,930 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $620,480,000 after purchasing an additional 103,015 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners lifted its stake in shares of Fortive by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 7,904,282 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $594,108,000 after buying an additional 166,123 shares during the period. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Fortive Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of Fortive stock traded up $0.29 on Tuesday, hitting $67.88. 597,277 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,407,136. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 0.91. Fortive Co. has a one year low of $60.39 and a one year high of $83.32. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $70.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $75.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.07 billion, a PE ratio of 28.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.10.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.85. The business had revenue of $1.47 billion during 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%. Fortive's revenue for the quarter was down 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.83 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Fortive Co. will post 4.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Investors 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 0.47%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. Fortive's payout ratio is presently 14.04%.

Insider Activity at Fortive

In other Fortive news, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 5,688 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.52, for a total transaction of $457,997.76. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 47,141 shares in the company, valued at $3,795,793.32. This trade represents a 10.77 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Charles E. Mclaughlin sold 32,085 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.86, for a total transaction of $2,530,223.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 76,126 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,003,296.36. This represents a 29.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 243,385 shares of company stock worth $19,508,529. Company insiders own 1.01% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on FTV shares. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Fortive from $84.00 to $69.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. StockNews.com lowered Fortive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Fortive from $85.00 to $84.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Fortive from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Fortive from $90.00 to $73.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Fortive currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $80.75.

Fortive 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.