IMA Wealth Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

IMA Wealth Inc. raised its position in shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 4.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 12,778 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 572 shares during the quarter. IMA Wealth Inc.’s holdings in Fortive were worth $941,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of FTV. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of Fortive by 111.7% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,176,655 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $86,637,000 after buying an additional 620,866 shares during the last quarter. Flossbach Von Storch AG increased its holdings in shares of Fortive by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Flossbach Von Storch AG now owns 11,107,878 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $817,873,000 after acquiring an additional 512,414 shares in the last quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Fortive by 47.4% during the fourth quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 1,410,427 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $103,850,000 after acquiring an additional 453,817 shares in the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its holdings in shares of Fortive by 8.6% during the third quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 3,294,446 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $244,316,000 after acquiring an additional 260,404 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Fortive by 2.9% during the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 6,698,951 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $496,794,000 after acquiring an additional 191,877 shares in the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Fortive Price Performance

FTV stock traded down $0.24 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $75.97. The stock had a trading volume of 1,918,843 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,709,118. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $83.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $76.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The company has a market cap of $26.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.13. Fortive Co. has a 52-week low of $62.77 and a 52-week high of $87.10.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The technology company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.53 billion. Fortive had a return on equity of 12.22% and a net margin of 14.68%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Fortive Co. will post 3.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 31st. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.65%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FTV has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Fortive from $89.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Fortive from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Fortive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Fortive from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $95.00 to $90.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of Fortive from $93.00 to $83.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.46.

Insider Transactions at Fortive

In other news, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 9,106 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.50, for a total transaction of $787,669.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 36,558 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,162,267. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 9,106 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.50, for a total transaction of $787,669.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 36,558 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,162,267. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Christopher M. Mulhall sold 8,994 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.17, for a total value of $739,036.98. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,564 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,689,743.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 63,937 shares of company stock worth $5,475,122 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.95% 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.