Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) Shares Sold by Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc.

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. cut its stake in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 17.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 196,336 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 40,384 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc.’s holdings in Fortive were worth $14,725,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of FTV. Dodge & Cox acquired a new stake in Fortive in the 4th quarter worth approximately $583,493,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Fortive during the 4th quarter worth approximately $412,445,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Fortive by 164.5% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,730,161 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $654,763,000 after buying an additional 5,429,566 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Fortive by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 42,947,135 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,221,036,000 after buying an additional 3,810,997 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Third Point LLC purchased a new position in Fortive during the 4th quarter worth approximately $142,500,000. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Charles E. Mclaughlin sold 32,085 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.86, for a total value of $2,530,223.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 76,126 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,003,296.36. The trade was a 29.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 3,002 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.05, for a total transaction 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 approximately $3,349,585.65. The trade was a 6.62% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 243,385 shares of company stock valued at $19,508,529. 1.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Fortive from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Fortive from $90.00 to $81.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Fortive from $85.00 to $84.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Fortive from $68.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $80.85.

Fortive Price Performance

NYSE:FTV opened at $73.81 on Tuesday. 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 firm has a market cap of $25.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $69.98 and a 200-day moving average price of $74.90. Fortive Co. has a 1-year low of $60.39 and a 1-year high of $83.32.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.85. The firm had revenue of $1.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.49 billion. Fortive had a net margin of 13.36% and a return on equity of 13.15%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.83 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Fortive Co. will post 4.05 EPS for the current year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. Fortive’s payout ratio is presently 14.04%.

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.