Empirical Finance LLC Has $950,000 Stock Holdings in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Empirical Finance LLC grew its stake in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 2.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,030 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 266 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Fortive were worth $950,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its holdings in Fortive by 3.6% during the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 3,899 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $308,000 after buying an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. RDA Financial Network grew its holdings in Fortive by 3.4% during the second quarter. RDA Financial Network now owns 4,191 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $311,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the period. Pitcairn Co. increased its stake in Fortive by 1.3% in the first quarter. Pitcairn Co. now owns 11,170 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $961,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Fortive by 0.8% in the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 18,507 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,371,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares during the period. Finally, Andina Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Fortive by 3.4% during the second quarter. Andina Capital Management LLC now owns 4,433 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $328,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares in the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on FTV. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Fortive from $82.00 to $77.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays dropped their price target on Fortive from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com upgraded Fortive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Fortive in a report on Friday, September 6th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $89.00 target price on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Fortive from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $90.00 to $92.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fortive has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.82.

Fortive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FTV opened at $74.82 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The business has a 50-day moving average of $75.53 and a 200-day moving average of $74.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.81, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.13. Fortive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $66.15 and a fifty-two week high of $87.10.

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

Fortive Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.58, for a total value of $382,900.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 48,346 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,702,336.68. This represents a 9.37 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Charles E. Mclaughlin sold 6,864 shares of Fortive 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,433,135.73. This trade represents a 8.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 197,895 shares of company stock valued at $14,261,051 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.01% of the company’s stock.

Fortive Company 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.