Franklin Resources Inc. Sells 276,033 Shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Franklin Resources Inc. trimmed its stake in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 10.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,418,490 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 276,033 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned about 0.70% of Fortive worth $190,203,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in FTV. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Fortive during the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Fortive during the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Fortive during the second quarter worth $30,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in Fortive in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. lifted its stake in Fortive by 71.0% during the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 424 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 176 shares in the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 171,808 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.71, for a total transaction of $12,320,351.68. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 42,651 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,058,503.21. The trade was a 80.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.58, for a total value of $382,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 48,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,702,336.68. This represents a 9.37 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on FTV. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Fortive from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Fortive in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $84.00 price objective for the company. Truist Financial cut their target price on Fortive from $90.00 to $89.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Argus reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Fortive in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Citigroup lowered Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $92.00 to $86.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fortive presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $86.73.

Fortive Stock Performance

NYSE:FTV opened at $76.86 on Friday. Fortive Co. has a 1 year low of $66.15 and a 1 year high of $87.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $76.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $74.37. The company has a market capitalization of $26.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.14.

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

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors 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 dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. Fortive’s payout ratio is currently 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.