Middleton & Co. Inc. MA Has $6.30 Million Stock Position in Fortive Corporation $FTV

Middleton & Co. Inc. MA trimmed its position in shares of Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV) by 4.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 120,765 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 5,392 shares during the quarter. Middleton & Co. Inc. MA’s holdings in Fortive were worth $6,295,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of FTV. Dodge & Cox raised its holdings in Fortive by 181.5% during the first quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 21,900,363 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,602,669,000 after buying an additional 14,120,456 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Fortive by 50.2% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 13,112,403 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $959,567,000 after acquiring an additional 4,382,242 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Fortive by 96.6% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,626,962 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $411,781,000 after acquiring an additional 2,764,432 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Fortive by 4,854.2% during the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,451,325 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $106,208,000 after purchasing an additional 1,422,030 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Fortive during the 1st quarter valued at about $76,671,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Fortive

In other news, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 2,192 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.35, for a total value of $110,367.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 59,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,995,220.80. This trade represents a 3.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.92% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Fortive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FTV opened at $51.09 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $48.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $56.67. Fortive Corporation has a 1-year low of $46.34 and a 1-year high of $83.32. The firm has a market cap of $16.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 1.16.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, June 9th. The technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of $1.07 billion during the quarter. Fortive had a return on equity of 12.04% and a net margin of 11.72%. Analysts anticipate that Fortive Corporation will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 26th. Investors of record on Friday, November 28th will be paid a $0.06 dividend. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 28th. Fortive’s payout ratio is currently 13.71%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on FTV. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Fortive from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Cowen lowered shares of Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Fortive to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Melius Research raised shares of Fortive to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Fortive from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and sixteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Fortive presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $59.29.

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.