Millennium Management LLC Reduces Holdings in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Millennium Management LLC lowered its position in shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,632,381 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 18,729 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC owned approximately 0.47% of Fortive worth $122,429,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in FTV. Dodge & Cox purchased a new stake in shares of Fortive during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $583,493,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Fortive during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $412,445,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Fortive by 164.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,730,161 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $654,763,000 after buying an additional 5,429,566 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Fortive by 9.7% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 42,947,135 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,221,036,000 after buying an additional 3,810,997 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Third Point LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortive in the fourth quarter worth $142,500,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FTV has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Fortive from $90.00 to $73.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Fortive from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $67.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Fortive from $85.00 to $84.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Fortive from $68.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fortive has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.85.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Charles E. Mclaughlin sold 32,085 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.86, for a total transaction of $2,530,223.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 76,126 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,003,296.36. The trade was a 29.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO James A. Lico sold 196,117 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.38, for a total transaction of $15,763,884.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 528,851 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,509,043.38. The trade was a 27.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 257,712 shares of company stock valued at $20,567,008. 1.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Fortive Stock Down 0.1%

FTV stock opened at $73.70 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 0.91. Fortive Co. has a 1-year low of $60.39 and a 1-year high of $83.32. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $69.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $74.89. The firm has a market cap of $25.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.23, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.10.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.85. Fortive had a net margin of 13.36% and a return on equity of 13.15%. The company had revenue of $1.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.49 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.83 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Fortive Co. will post 4.05 EPS for the current year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be issued 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 of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.04%.

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.