Mizuho Securities USA LLC Increases Position in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its stake in shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 14,635.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,000,000 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,972,855 shares during the quarter. Fortive accounts for 0.8% of Mizuho Securities USA LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Mizuho Securities USA LLC’s holdings in Fortive were worth $315,720,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of FTV. Raymond James & Associates lifted its stake in Fortive by 15.0% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 395,488 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $31,216,000 after buying an additional 51,690 shares during the last quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Fortive by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,932 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $389,000 after buying an additional 226 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in shares of Fortive by 599.3% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 52,546 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,520,000 after purchasing an additional 45,032 shares in the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co raised its holdings in shares of Fortive by 6.7% in the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 275,489 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $23,719,000 after acquiring an additional 17,225 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Addenda Capital Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Fortive by 8.8% during the 2nd quarter. Addenda Capital Inc. now owns 98,487 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,298,000 after purchasing an additional 7,936 shares during the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Fortive Price Performance

NYSE:FTV opened at $74.82 on Friday. Fortive Co. has a 52-week low of $66.15 and a 52-week high of $87.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm has a market cap of $25.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.81, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.13. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $75.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $74.18.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last released its 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. The business had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.55 billion. Fortive had a net margin of 14.35% and a return on equity of 12.56%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.85 earnings per share. 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 business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be given 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 (DPR) is 12.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 171,808 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 42,651 shares in the company, valued at $3,058,503.21. The trade was a 80.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Jonathan L. Schwarz sold 14,223 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.80, for a total transaction of $1,049,657.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 68,161 shares in the company, valued at $5,030,281.80. This trade represents a 17.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 197,895 shares of company stock valued at $14,261,051. 1.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on FTV. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Fortive from $90.00 to $89.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Fortive from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $90.00 to $92.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th. StockNews.com raised shares of Fortive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. UBS Group began coverage on Fortive in a research note on Wednesday. They set a “neutral” rating and a $84.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Raymond James upgraded shares of Fortive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently 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.