Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the thirteen research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $87.64.

Several research analysts have issued reports on FTV shares. UBS Group started coverage on Fortive in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $84.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Fortive from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Fortive from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Fortive from $77.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Citigroup lowered Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $92.00 to $86.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th.

Fortive Trading Up 1.6 %

FTV opened at $83.05 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $28.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.15. Fortive has a 12 month low of $66.15 and a 12 month high of $87.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $78.03 and a 200 day moving average of $75.95.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 7th. The technology company reported $1.17 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 last year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Fortive will post 4.05 EPS for the current year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.56%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortive

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of FTV. CWM LLC raised its stake in Fortive by 5.3% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 10,031 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $792,000 after buying an additional 508 shares in the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt raised its stake in Fortive by 276.2% in the third quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 2,043 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $161,000 after buying an additional 1,500 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fortive during the third quarter worth $41,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its position in shares of Fortive by 7.3% during the third quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 5,872 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $463,000 after purchasing an additional 402 shares in the last quarter. Finally, McCollum Christoferson Group LLC increased its position in shares of Fortive by 2.5% during the third quarter. McCollum Christoferson Group LLC now owns 58,238 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,597,000 after purchasing an additional 1,440 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

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.