Mufg Securities Americas Inc. Takes $384,000 Position in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Mufg Securities Americas Inc. acquired a new stake in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 5,122 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $384,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in FTV. Dodge & Cox acquired a new position in shares of Fortive in the 4th quarter valued at about $583,493,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Fortive in the 4th quarter valued at about $412,445,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake 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 period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its stake 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 period. Finally, Third Point LLC acquired a new position in Fortive during the 4th quarter worth approximately $142,500,000. 94.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fortive news, CEO James A. Lico sold 175,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.40, for a total value of $12,670,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 428,585 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,029,554. This trade represents a 28.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 14,327 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.88, for a total value of $1,058,478.76. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 432,712 shares of company stock valued at $33,237,008 over the last ninety days. 1.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Fortive Stock Performance

Shares of FTV opened at $73.26 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a market capitalization of $24.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.04, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.10. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $69.77 and a 200 day moving average of $74.85. Fortive Co. has a 12 month low of $60.39 and a 12 month high of $83.32.

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

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14.04%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on FTV. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Fortive from $68.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Fortive from $90.00 to $81.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. BNP Paribas downgraded Fortive from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $67.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Fortive from $88.00 to $82.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.92.

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.