Advisory Alpha LLC Acquires 191 Shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Advisory Alpha LLC raised its holdings in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 4.6% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 4,341 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the period. Advisory Alpha LLC’s holdings in Fortive were worth $373,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Fortive by 1.0% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 19,092,535 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,415,902,000 after acquiring an additional 181,948 shares during the last quarter. Flossbach Von Storch AG lifted its stake in shares of Fortive by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Flossbach Von Storch AG now owns 11,107,878 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $817,873,000 after acquiring an additional 512,414 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its stake in Fortive by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 7,577,474 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $557,929,000 after buying an additional 878,523 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in Fortive by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 5,847,724 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $430,568,000 after buying an additional 33,990 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Fortive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $268,686,000. Institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Fortive Stock Performance

NYSE:FTV traded up $1.30 during trading on Friday, reaching $76.25. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 212,553 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,629,063. The firm has a market cap of $26.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.50. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $74.47 and a 200-day moving average of $78.16. Fortive Co. has a 12 month low of $63.05 and a 12 month high of $87.10.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The technology company reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.04. Fortive had a return on equity of 12.22% and a net margin of 14.68%. The firm had revenue of $1.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.53 billion. Research analysts expect that Fortive Co. will post 3.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on FTV. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Fortive from $84.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. TD Cowen upgraded Fortive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $75.00 to $90.00 in a report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Fortive from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $90.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Fortive from $97.00 to $93.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on Fortive from $101.00 to $98.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fortive currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $86.08.

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.