Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. Purchases Shares of 4,780 Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. purchased a new stake in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 4,780 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $358,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. First Hawaiian Bank raised its stake in shares of Fortive by 197.0% in the 4th quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 15,264 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,145,000 after purchasing an additional 10,125 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Fortive by 2.7% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 406,085 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $32,052,000 after purchasing an additional 10,795 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Fortive by 26.4% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 37,502 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,832,000 after purchasing an additional 7,829 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Fortive in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,346,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of Fortive by 23.9% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,574,289 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $118,292,000 after purchasing an additional 303,788 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Fortive from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $92.00 to $86.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Fortive in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $84.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Fortive from $77.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.64.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 5,688 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.52, for a total value of $457,997.76. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 47,141 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,795,793.32. The trade was a 10.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO James A. Lico sold 196,117 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.38, for a total transaction of $15,763,884.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 528,851 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,509,043.38. The trade was a 27.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 208,298 shares of company stock valued at $16,740,998 over the last ninety days. 1.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Fortive Trading Up 0.2 %

FTV stock opened at $79.73 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $78.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $76.53. Fortive Co. has a one year low of $66.15 and a one year high of $87.10. The stock has a market cap of $27.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.15.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 7th. The technology company reported $1.17 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.05. Fortive had a net margin of 13.36% and a return on equity of 13.15%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.98 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Fortive Co. will post 4.05 EPS for the current year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.56%.

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.