Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) Shares Bought by Pictet Asset Management Holding SA

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA grew its holdings in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 30.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 260,013 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 59,956 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA’s holdings in Fortive were worth $19,501,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of FTV. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Fortive in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Fortive by 186.8% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 456 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 297 shares during the period. Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in shares of Fortive in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Albion Financial Group UT acquired a new position in shares of Fortive in the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA boosted its position in shares of Fortive by 28.6% during the 4th quarter. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA now owns 786 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares during the period. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Fortive Price Performance

Shares of FTV opened at $73.25 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.04, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.16. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $78.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $77.00. Fortive Co. has a twelve month low of $66.15 and a twelve month high of $85.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 7th. The technology company reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.05. Fortive had a return on equity of 13.15% and a net margin of 13.36%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Fortive Co. will post 4.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.56%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FTV has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup lowered Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $92.00 to $86.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Fortive from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Fortive from $77.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com cut shares of Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Fortive from $92.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.18.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortive

In other Fortive news, CEO James A. Lico sold 196,117 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.38, for a total value of $15,763,884.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 528,851 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,509,043.38. The trade was a 27.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 5,688 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.52, for a total transaction of $457,997.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 47,141 shares in the company, valued at $3,795,793.32. The trade was a 10.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 243,385 shares of company stock worth $19,508,529 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.01% of the company’s stock.

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.