StockNews.com Downgrades Fortive (NYSE:FTV) to Hold

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) was downgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on FTV. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Fortive from $89.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Vertical Research cut shares of Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Fortive from $101.00 to $98.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Fortive from $92.00 to $84.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Fortive from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.46.

Fortive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FTV opened at $76.10 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $83.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $76.14. Fortive has a twelve month low of $63.05 and a twelve month high of $87.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.79 billion, a PE ratio of 30.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.15.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The technology company reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.04. Fortive had a net margin of 14.68% and a return on equity of 12.22%. The company had revenue of $1.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.53 billion. Equities research analysts expect that Fortive will post 3.81 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Fortive

In related news, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 9,106 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.50, for a total value of $787,669.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 36,558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,162,267. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 9,106 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.50, for a total value of $787,669.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 36,558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,162,267. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Charles E. Mclaughlin sold 40,837 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.28, for a total transaction of $3,523,416.36. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 61,855 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,336,849.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 63,937 shares of company stock valued at $5,475,122. 0.95% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Fortive by 1.0% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 19,092,535 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,415,902,000 after buying an additional 181,948 shares during the period. Flossbach Von Storch AG boosted its stake in Fortive by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Flossbach Von Storch AG now owns 11,107,878 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $817,873,000 after buying an additional 512,414 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in Fortive by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 7,577,474 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $557,929,000 after buying an additional 878,523 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in Fortive by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 5,847,724 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $430,568,000 after buying an additional 33,990 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Fortive by 2.3% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,886,914 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $288,254,000 after buying an additional 85,560 shares during the period. 94.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.