Fortive (NYSE:FTV) Sets New 52-Week High - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Fortive shares reached a new 52-week high of $67.47 during Tuesday trading, up from the prior close of $66.84.
• The company exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $0.77 EPS versus the $0.70 consensus and revenue of $1.11 billion, up 7.8% year over year. Fortive also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.07 per share.
• Analysts maintained a consensus “Hold” rating with a $64.36 target price, while insiders sold more than 83,000 shares worth approximately $5.37 million over the past 90 days.

Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV - Get Free Report)'s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday. The company traded as high as $67.47 and last traded at $67.32, with a volume of 422,304 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $66.84.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FTV has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Evercore began coverage on shares of Fortive in a report on Monday, September 28th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $60.00 target price on the stock. Truist Financial reissued a "hold" rating and set a $65.00 price target (up from $63.00) on shares of Fortive in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Fortive from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research report on Thursday. Argus reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $68.00 price target on shares of Fortive in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on Fortive from $65.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fortive presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $64.36.

Fortive Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $20.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.07. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $57.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $58.71. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The technology company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $1.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.07 billion. Fortive had a return on equity of 15.79% and a net margin of 14.83%. The company's revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.68 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Fortive Corporation will post 3.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 4th were paid a $0.07 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. This is a boost from Fortive's previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. Fortive's dividend payout ratio is presently 13.33%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 48,442 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.60, for a total transaction of $3,129,353.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 79,118 shares in the company, valued at $5,111,022.80. This represents a 37.98% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Christopher Mulhall sold 8,093 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.57, for a total value of $530,658.01. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 15,597 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,022,695.29. This represents a 34.16% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 83,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,371,093 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.65% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Fortive

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mather Group LLC. grew its holdings in Fortive by 86.8% during the 3rd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 467 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 217 shares in the last quarter. Keating Financial Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Fortive in the second quarter worth approximately $30,000. Virtus Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fortive during the second quarter valued at $30,000. Main Street Group LTD purchased a new stake in shares of Fortive in the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Highland Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Fortive in the second quarter worth about $39,000. Institutional investors own 94.94% of the company's stock.

About Fortive

Fortive Corporation NYSE: FTV is a diversified industrial technology company that develops and provides products, software and services designed to improve the productivity, safety, reliability and efficiency of businesses and public-sector organizations. Its offerings support customers in industries including manufacturing, healthcare, utilities, transportation, commercial facilities and government.

The company's portfolio includes electronic test and measurement equipment, calibration and asset-management solutions, workplace and facility-management software, engineering and infrastructure software, product identification and traceability systems, and healthcare technology.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.