Chicago Capital LLC Makes New $318,000 Investment in Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV)

Chicago Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 4,352 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $318,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its holdings in Fortive by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 2,554 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $192,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Dynasty Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Fortive by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Dynasty Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,436 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,083,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares during the period. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Fortive by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 13,628 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,022,000 after buying an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. RDA Financial Network lifted its stake in shares of Fortive by 3.5% in the first quarter. RDA Financial Network now owns 4,965 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $363,000 after buying an additional 169 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tritonpoint Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Fortive by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. Tritonpoint Wealth LLC now owns 6,208 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $454,000 after buying an additional 187 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 14,327 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.88, for a total value of $1,058,478.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 51,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,823,290. This represents a 21.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO James A. Lico sold 175,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.40, for a total transaction of $12,670,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 428,585 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,029,554. This represents a 28.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.92% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on FTV shares. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Fortive from $88.00 to $82.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $86.00 price objective (up from $84.00) on shares of Fortive in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. Citigroup cut their price objective on Fortive from $84.00 to $69.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Fortive from $73.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on Fortive from $78.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Fortive presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.62.

Fortive Trading Down 1.7%

Fortive stock opened at $69.57 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $69.49 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $74.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Fortive Corporation has a 12 month low of $60.39 and a 12 month high of $83.32. The stock has a market cap of $23.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.11.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85. The business had revenue of $1.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.49 billion. Fortive had a return on equity of 13.19% and a net margin of 12.90%. Fortive’s quarterly revenue was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.83 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Fortive Corporation will post 4.05 EPS for the current year.

Fortive announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, May 27th that authorizes the company to repurchase 15,630,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. Fortive’s payout ratio is 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.