ING Groep NV Reduces Stock Position in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

ING Groep NV lowered its stake in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 48.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 132,855 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 123,015 shares during the quarter. ING Groep NV’s holdings in Fortive were worth $10,486,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Boston Partners boosted its holdings in Fortive by 19.3% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 6,463,772 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $554,253,000 after purchasing an additional 1,045,245 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in Fortive by 47.1% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 6,244,117 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $537,119,000 after buying an additional 1,999,792 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Fortive by 8.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,668,448 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $197,726,000 after acquiring an additional 205,893 shares during the last quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Fortive by 6.8% in the 2nd quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 2,641,314 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $195,721,000 after acquiring an additional 168,368 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its stake in Fortive by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,565,443 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $190,099,000 after buying an additional 94,170 shares in the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. 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 upgraded Fortive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Mizuho upgraded Fortive from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $80.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Fortive in a research report on Friday, September 6th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $89.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered shares of Fortive from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.82.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 5,000 shares of the business’s 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $3,702,336.68. The trade was a 9.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Charles E. Mclaughlin sold 6,864 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.03, for a total value of $508,141.92. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 73,391 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,433,135.73. The trade was a 8.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 197,895 shares of company stock valued at $14,261,051 over the last quarter. 1.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Fortive Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of FTV opened at $75.62 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.13, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.13. Fortive Co. has a twelve month low of $66.15 and a twelve month 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 fifty day simple moving average of $75.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $74.18.

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

Fortive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.75%.

Fortive 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.