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

Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV)’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) 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.