Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. Cuts Position in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. lowered its position in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 55,037 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 824 shares during the quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P.’s holdings in Fortive were worth $4,128,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Flossbach Von Storch SE lifted its position in shares of Fortive by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Flossbach Von Storch SE now owns 11,903,240 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $892,743,000 after purchasing an additional 137,479 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Fortive by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,191,915 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $644,346,000 after buying an additional 46,704 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in shares of Fortive by 13.8% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 8,041,324 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $634,701,000 after acquiring an additional 977,428 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in shares of Fortive by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,444,205 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $271,851,000 after acquiring an additional 103,530 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Fortive by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,014,318 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $151,074,000 after acquiring an additional 49,529 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FTV has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Fortive from $77.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com cut shares of Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $92.00 to $86.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Fortive from $92.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Fortive from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.64.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortive

In other news, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 5,688 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.52, for a total value of $457,997.76. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 47,141 shares in the company, valued at $3,795,793.32. This represents a 10.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Christopher M. Mulhall sold 6,493 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.95, for a total value of $519,115.35. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,283 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,941,425.85. This represents a 21.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 243,385 shares of company stock worth $19,508,529. 1.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Fortive Price Performance

FTV stock opened at $74.35 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $78.73 and a 200-day moving average of $76.86. The company has a market cap of $25.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.51, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Fortive Co. has a 12-month low of $66.15 and a 12-month high of $87.10.

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

Fortive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. Fortive’s payout ratio 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.