KBC Group NV Boosts Holdings in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

KBC Group NV boosted its position in shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 203,043 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,440 shares during the period. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Fortive were worth $16,027,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Boston Partners increased its position in shares of Fortive by 19.3% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 6,463,772 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $554,253,000 after acquiring an additional 1,045,245 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in shares of Fortive by 47.1% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 6,244,117 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $537,119,000 after purchasing an additional 1,999,792 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Fortive by 8.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,668,448 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $197,726,000 after purchasing an additional 205,893 shares during the last quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Fortive by 6.8% during the 2nd quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 2,641,314 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $195,721,000 after acquiring an additional 168,368 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its holdings in Fortive by 3.8% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,565,443 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $190,099,000 after purchasing an additional 94,170 shares during the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Fortive Stock Performance

FTV stock opened at $74.82 on Friday. Fortive Co. has a 1-year low of $66.15 and a 1-year high of $87.10. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $75.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $74.19. The company has a market capitalization of $25.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.81, a PEG ratio of 2.09 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The technology company reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.04. Fortive had a net margin of 14.35% and a return on equity of 12.56%. The business 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 posted $0.85 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Fortive Co. will post 3.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.75%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Charles E. Mclaughlin sold 6,864 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $5,433,135.73. The trade was a 8.55 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 171,808 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.71, for a total value of $12,320,351.68. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 42,651 shares in the company, valued at $3,058,503.21. The trade was a 80.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 197,895 shares of company stock worth $14,261,051. 1.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on FTV. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Fortive from $82.00 to $77.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Fortive from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $90.00 to $92.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Fortive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Barclays lowered their target price on Fortive from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wolfe Research downgraded Fortive from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Fortive has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.82.

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.