Empirical Finance LLC Sells 125 Shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Empirical Finance LLC lowered its position in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,905 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 125 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Fortive were worth $893,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Fortive by 0.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,191,915 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $644,346,000 after purchasing an additional 46,704 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in shares of Fortive by 13.8% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 8,041,324 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $634,701,000 after buying an additional 977,428 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Fortive by 14,635.7% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 4,000,000 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $315,720,000 after acquiring an additional 3,972,855 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of Fortive by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,444,205 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $271,851,000 after acquiring an additional 103,530 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Fortive by 1.3% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,964,789 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $155,081,000 after acquiring an additional 24,539 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on FTV shares. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Fortive in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $84.00 price target for the company. Truist Financial raised their target price on Fortive from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Fortive from $77.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Fortive from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Fortive from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.64.

Fortive Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE:FTV opened at $80.54 on Tuesday. Fortive Co. has a 12 month low of $66.15 and a 12 month high of $87.10. The firm has a market cap of $27.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $77.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $75.40.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 7th. The technology company reported $1.17 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.05. Fortive had a net margin of 14.35% and a return on equity of 12.56%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Fortive Co. will post 3.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid 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, February 28th. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.56%.

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.