Middleton & Co. Inc. MA Lowers Holdings in Fortive Corporation $FTV

Middleton & Co. Inc. MA reduced its position in shares of Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV) by 4.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 120,765 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 5,392 shares during the period. Middleton & Co. Inc. MA’s holdings in Fortive were worth $6,295,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Redmond Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Fortive by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Redmond Asset Management LLC now owns 14,515 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,062,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Capital Analysts LLC raised its stake in Fortive by 41.0% in the first quarter. Capital Analysts LLC now owns 523 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP lifted its position in Fortive by 2.3% during the first quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 7,119 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $521,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its stake in Fortive by 19.1% in the 1st quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,092 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $80,000 after buying an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Advisory Services Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Fortive by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 5,591 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $409,000 after buying an additional 199 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on FTV. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Fortive from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 25th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Fortive from $65.00 to $54.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Fortive to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Fortive from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 15th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered shares of Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $85.00 to $50.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and sixteen have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $59.29.

Fortive Stock Up 1.7%

Shares of NYSE FTV opened at $51.09 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $48.99 and its 200 day moving average is $56.67. Fortive Corporation has a 52 week low of $46.34 and a 52 week high of $83.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a market cap of $16.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.19, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 1.16.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, June 9th. The technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter. Fortive had a net margin of 11.72% and a return on equity of 12.04%. The business had revenue of $1.07 billion during the quarter. On average, equities research analysts expect that Fortive Corporation will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 28th will be issued a $0.06 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 28th. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortive

In related news, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 2,192 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.35, for a total value of $110,367.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 59,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,995,220.80. This trade represents a 3.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.92% of the company’s stock.

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.