Taurus Asset Management LLC Has $278,000 Stock Position in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Taurus Asset Management LLC decreased its stake in shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 97.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,525 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 155,400 shares during the quarter. Taurus Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Fortive were worth $278,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Fortive during the 1st quarter worth approximately $253,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fortive during the 1st quarter worth approximately $184,000. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Fortive during the 1st quarter worth approximately $383,000. Rockport Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fortive during the 1st quarter worth approximately $286,000. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Fortive by 16.1% during the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 14,844 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,277,000 after acquiring an additional 2,055 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Fortive Stock Performance

FTV opened at $74.82 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $25.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.81, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.25. The business’s fifty day moving average is $75.53 and its 200-day moving average is $74.16.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The technology company reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.53 billion for 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%. Fortive’s revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.85 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Fortive Co. will post 3.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Raymond James raised Fortive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Fortive in a research note on Friday, September 6th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $89.00 price target for the company. UBS Group assumed coverage on Fortive in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $84.00 price objective on the stock. Mizuho raised Fortive from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $80.00 to $90.00 in a report on Friday, September 6th. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered Fortive from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.82.

Insider Activity at Fortive

In related news, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 171,808 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 42,651 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,058,503.21. This trade represents a 80.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Charles E. Mclaughlin sold 6,864 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.03, for a total value of $508,141.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 73,391 shares in the company, valued at $5,433,135.73. This trade represents a 8.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 197,895 shares of company stock valued at $14,261,051 over the last ninety days. 1.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.