Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,610,000 shares, an increase of 23.7% from the August 15th total of 2,110,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,200,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.2 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on FTV shares. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Fortive from $89.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Wolfe Research downgraded Fortive from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Fortive from $84.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. TD Cowen upgraded Fortive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $75.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Fortive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $86.23.

Insider Activity

In other Fortive news, SVP Jonathan L. Schwarz sold 14,223 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.80, for a total transaction of $1,049,657.40. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 68,161 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,030,281.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, SVP Jonathan L. Schwarz sold 14,223 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.80, for a total transaction of $1,049,657.40. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 68,161 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,030,281.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Charles E. Mclaughlin sold 6,864 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.03, for a total value of $508,141.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 73,391 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,433,135.73. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Fortive during the 2nd quarter worth $985,000. New Century Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Fortive by 36.2% in the 2nd quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC now owns 3,694 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $274,000 after acquiring an additional 982 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in shares of Fortive by 7.5% in the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 56,497 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,187,000 after buying an additional 3,951 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp grew its position in shares of Fortive by 1.1% during the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 142,068 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $10,527,000 after buying an additional 1,519 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Shipley& Co Ltd raised its holdings in Fortive by 3.0% in the second quarter. Brown Shipley& Co Ltd now owns 56,174 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,163,000 after acquiring an additional 1,655 shares in the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Fortive Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE FTV opened at $73.72 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $72.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $76.36. Fortive has a 52-week low of $63.05 and a 52-week high of $87.10. The firm has a market cap of $25.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.57 billion. Fortive had a net margin of 14.39% and a return on equity of 12.32%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.85 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Fortive will post 3.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Fortive’s payout ratio is presently 12.65%.

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.