Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) Shares Sold by Barclays PLC

Barclays PLC cut its stake in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 38.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 514,378 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 320,208 shares during the period. Barclays PLC’s holdings in Fortive were worth $38,581,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Flossbach Von Storch SE lifted its stake in shares of Fortive by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Flossbach Von Storch SE now owns 11,903,240 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $892,743,000 after buying an additional 137,479 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Fortive by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,294,930 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $620,480,000 after acquiring an additional 103,015 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its position in Fortive by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 7,904,282 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $594,108,000 after acquiring an additional 166,123 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Fortive during the 4th quarter valued at about $412,445,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Fortive by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,014,318 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $151,074,000 after purchasing an additional 49,529 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Fortive news, CFO Charles E. Mclaughlin sold 32,085 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.86, for a total value of $2,530,223.10. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 76,126 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,003,296.36. This trade represents a 29.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO James A. Lico sold 196,117 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.38, for a total transaction of $15,763,884.46. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 528,851 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,509,043.38. The trade was a 27.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 243,385 shares of company stock worth $19,508,529 over the last 90 days. 1.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FTV has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Fortive from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Fortive from $84.00 to $69.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Fortive from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Fortive from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $67.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Eight investment 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 “Hold” and an average target price of $81.92.

Fortive Price Performance

Shares of Fortive stock opened at $65.44 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $22.27 billion, a PE ratio of 27.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.12. Fortive Co. has a twelve month low of $60.39 and a twelve month high of $83.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $74.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $75.94.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 7th. The technology company reported $1.17 EPS 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 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Fortive Co. will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. Fortive’s payout ratio is 13.56%.

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.