Commerce Bank Reduces Position in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Commerce Bank lessened its stake in shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 4.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 51,907 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 2,649 shares during the quarter. Commerce Bank’s holdings in Fortive were worth $4,097,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTV. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in Fortive during the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Fortive in the 1st quarter valued at $32,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC acquired a new position in Fortive during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Fortive in the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Goodman Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Fortive in the second quarter valued at $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 171,808 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 42,651 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,058,503.21. This represents a 80.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 5,000 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.58, for a total transaction 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 197,895 shares of company stock worth $14,261,051. Insiders own 1.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on FTV. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Fortive from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. Mizuho raised Fortive from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $80.00 to $90.00 in a report on Friday, September 6th. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Fortive in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $84.00 price target for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Fortive from $82.00 to $77.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.82.

Fortive Stock Performance

Shares of FTV stock opened at $78.42 on Friday. 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 business has a 50 day moving average of $75.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $74.18. The company has a market cap of $27.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.24, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.13. Fortive Co. has a 52 week low of $66.15 and a 52 week high of $87.10.

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

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. Fortive’s payout ratio is 12.75%.

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.