First County Bank CT Sells 206 Shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

First County Bank CT reduced its position in shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,078 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 206 shares during the period. First County Bank CT’s holdings in Fortive were worth $243,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of FTV. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Fortive in the first quarter worth about $184,000. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Fortive by 16.1% during the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 14,844 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,277,000 after buying an additional 2,055 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Fortive by 7.9% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 9,648 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $831,000 after buying an additional 704 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Fortive during the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new position in Fortive during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,641,000. 94.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Fortive from $82.00 to $77.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Raymond James raised shares of Fortive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of Fortive from $85.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Fortive from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Fortive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.82.

Fortive Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of Fortive stock opened at $78.42 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $27.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.24, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Fortive Co. has a 12-month low of $66.15 and a 12-month high of $87.10. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $75.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $74.18.

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

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 12.75%.

Insider Transactions at Fortive

In related news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.58, for a total value of $382,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 48,346 shares in the company, valued at $3,702,336.68. This trade represents a 9.37 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 171,808 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.71, for a total transaction of $12,320,351.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 42,651 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,058,503.21. This trade represents a 80.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 197,895 shares of company stock valued at $14,261,051. 1.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.