AIA Group Ltd Acquires 12,346 Shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

AIA Group Ltd increased its position in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 150.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 20,527 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,346 shares during the quarter. AIA Group Ltd’s holdings in Fortive were worth $1,511,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fairfield Bush & CO. acquired a new position in Fortive during the first quarter worth $66,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Fortive by 6.4% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 2,124,090 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $129,421,000 after acquiring an additional 127,093 shares in the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Fortive by 123.0% in the first quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 19,004 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,158,000 after buying an additional 10,481 shares in the last quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. increased its stake in shares of Fortive by 11.7% in the first quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 21,144 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,288,000 after buying an additional 2,217 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Fortive by 5.2% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,693,658 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $103,217,000 after buying an additional 84,238 shares in the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 9,106 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.50, for a total transaction of $787,669.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 36,558 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,162,267. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 9,106 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.50, for a total transaction of $787,669.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 36,558 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,162,267. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Tamara S. Newcombe sold 5,000 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.00, for a total value of $425,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 55,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,676,445. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 63,937 shares of company stock worth $5,475,122 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.95% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on FTV. Vertical Research lowered Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. Mizuho raised their target price on Fortive from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Citigroup raised their target price on Fortive from $90.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Fortive from $79.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Fortive from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.54.

Fortive Price Performance

Shares of FTV opened at $80.18 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. Fortive Co. has a 1 year low of $62.70 and a 1 year high of $87.10. The stock has a market cap of $28.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.13. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $84.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $75.98.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The technology company reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.05. Fortive had a return on equity of 12.12% and a net margin of 14.27%. The firm had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.56 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.88 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Fortive Co. will post 3.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 31st. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.11%.

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.