Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Increases Position in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its holdings in shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV - Free Report) by 7.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 253,424 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 18,439 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC owned 0.07% of Fortive worth $18,660,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of FTV. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in Fortive by 111.7% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,176,655 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $86,637,000 after buying an additional 620,866 shares during the period. OLD National Bancorp IN lifted its holdings in Fortive by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 6,812 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $502,000 after buying an additional 393 shares during the period. Cetera Trust Company N.A acquired a new position in Fortive in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in Fortive by 28.2% in the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 7,511 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $553,000 after buying an additional 1,654 shares during the period. Finally, abrdn plc lifted its holdings in Fortive by 41.2% in the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 234,027 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $17,231,000 after buying an additional 68,258 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.94% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fortive news, CEO Tamara S. Newcombe sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.00, for a total value of $425,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 55,017 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,676,445. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Tamara S. Newcombe sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.00, for a total transaction of $425,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 55,017 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,676,445. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 9,106 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.50, for a total transaction of $787,669.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 36,558 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,162,267. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 63,937 shares of company stock valued at $5,475,122. Corporate insiders own 0.95% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on FTV. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Fortive from $89.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Vertical Research lowered shares of Fortive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Fortive from $90.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Fortive from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Fortive from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $86.54.

Fortive Stock Up 0.3 %

FTV stock traded up $0.25 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $80.61. The stock had a trading volume of 1,691,896 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,618,115. Fortive Co. has a one year low of $62.70 and a one year high of $87.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 2.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The company's 50 day moving average is $84.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $76.13. The company has a market capitalization of $28.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.13.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 31st. The technology company reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.05. Fortive had a net margin of 14.27% and a return on equity of 12.12%. The business had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.88 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Fortive Co. will post 3.78 EPS for the current year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 31st will be given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 31st. Fortive's payout ratio is 13.11%.

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.