Kentucky Retirement Systems Sells 2,121 Shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Kentucky Retirement Systems lessened its stake in shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 24,407 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 2,121 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Fortive were worth $1,926,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Seelaus Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Fortive during the third quarter worth $303,000. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in shares of Fortive by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 5,410 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its holdings in Fortive by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 12,030 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $950,000 after purchasing an additional 266 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its position in Fortive by 7.8% in the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 51,118 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,035,000 after buying an additional 3,713 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Fortive by 4.4% during the third quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 9,638 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $761,000 after buying an additional 402 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Fortive

In other news, CFO Charles E. Mclaughlin sold 6,864 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.03, for a total transaction of $508,141.92. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 73,391 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,433,135.73. This trade represents a 8.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.58, for a total transaction of $382,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 48,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,702,336.68. This represents a 9.37 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 197,895 shares of company stock worth $14,261,051. 1.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Fortive Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:FTV opened at $74.82 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $75.53 and a 200-day moving average of $74.16. Fortive Co. has a one year low of $66.15 and a one year high of $87.10. The stock has a market cap of $25.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The technology company reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.04. Fortive had a net margin of 14.35% and a return on equity of 12.56%. The firm had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.55 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.85 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Fortive Co. will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 12.75%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on FTV. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Fortive in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $84.00 target price for the company. Mizuho raised Fortive from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $80.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Friday, September 6th. StockNews.com upgraded Fortive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Raymond James raised Fortive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Fortive from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.82.

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.