Fortive (NYSE:FTV) Given New $84.00 Price Target at Wells Fargo & Company

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) had its price objective decreased by Wells Fargo & Company from $92.00 to $84.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the technology company’s stock.

FTV has been the subject of a number of other reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Fortive from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Vertical Research downgraded shares of Fortive from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Fortive from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Truist Financial initiated coverage on shares of Fortive in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. They issued a buy rating and a $99.00 target price for the company. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Fortive from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $86.46.

Fortive Stock Performance

NYSE:FTV traded down $0.41 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $75.80. The stock had a trading volume of 553,588 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,673,142. Fortive has a 1-year low of $62.77 and a 1-year high of $87.10. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $84.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $76.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.12, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.13.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The technology company reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.53 billion. Fortive had a net margin of 14.68% and a return on equity of 12.22%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Fortive will post 3.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 31st will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 31st. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 12.65%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fortive news, CEO Tamara S. Newcombe sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.00, for a total transaction of $425,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 55,017 shares in the company, valued at $4,676,445. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Tamara S. Newcombe sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.00, for a total value of $425,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 55,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,676,445. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Christopher M. Mulhall sold 8,994 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.17, for a total transaction of $739,036.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,564 shares in the company, valued at $1,689,743.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 63,937 shares of company stock valued at $5,475,122. 0.95% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortive

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. abrdn plc boosted its position in Fortive by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. abrdn plc now owns 165,769 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $12,293,000 after buying an additional 4,660 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Fortive by 34.2% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 527,199 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $38,828,000 after purchasing an additional 134,259 shares during the period. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Fortive by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. now owns 832,888 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $61,326,000 after purchasing an additional 35,688 shares during the period. NewEdge Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Fortive by 12.4% in the 4th quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 4,816 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $355,000 after purchasing an additional 531 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of Fortive by 111.7% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,176,655 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $86,637,000 after purchasing an additional 620,866 shares during the period. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.