Stifel Financial Corp Sells 6,144 Shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Stifel Financial Corp cut its stake in shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 7.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 77,905 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 6,144 shares during the quarter. Stifel Financial Corp’s holdings in Fortive were worth $5,843,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortive in the 3rd quarter valued at about $12,031,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in Fortive in the third quarter valued at approximately $456,000. Tidal Investments LLC raised its holdings in Fortive by 5.3% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 16,513 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,303,000 after purchasing an additional 829 shares during the period. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new position in shares of Fortive during the third quarter worth $854,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Fortive by 2.7% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 406,085 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $32,052,000 after purchasing an additional 10,795 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays dropped their price objective on Fortive from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Fortive from $77.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Fortive from $90.00 to $81.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price 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. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $81.92.

Fortive Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE FTV opened at $69.04 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.16. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $71.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $75.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.47 billion, a PE ratio of 29.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.12. Fortive Co. has a 52 week low of $60.39 and a 52 week high of $83.32.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 7th. The technology company reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Fortive Co. will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.56%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 3,002 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.05, for a total value of $237,308.10. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 42,373 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,349,585.65. This trade represents a 6.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO James A. Lico sold 196,117 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.38, for a total value of $15,763,884.46. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 528,851 shares in the company, valued at $42,509,043.38. The trade was a 27.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 243,385 shares of company stock worth $19,508,529. Company insiders own 1.01% of the company’s stock.

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.