Fortive (NYSE:FTV) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Morgan Stanley

Equities researchers at Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Fortive (NYSE:FTV) in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Briefing.com reports. The firm set an “overweight” rating and a $89.00 price target on the technology company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 22.25% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Fortive from $83.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Mizuho upgraded shares of Fortive from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $80.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Friday. Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of Fortive from $89.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of Fortive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $75.00 to $90.00 in a report on Monday, July 8th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $86.00.

Fortive Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE:FTV opened at $72.80 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $72.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $77.10. Fortive has a 1-year low of $63.05 and a 1-year high of $87.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.77, a PEG ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.12.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. Fortive had a net margin of 14.39% and a return on equity of 12.32%. The company had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.85 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Fortive will post 3.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Fortive

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

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.