Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC Sells 1,169 Shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC lowered its stake in shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 17.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,449 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,169 shares during the quarter. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Fortive were worth $399,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Parvin Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. American National Bank & Trust bought a new stake in shares of Fortive in the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Quarry LP raised its stake in shares of Fortive by 229.6% in the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 501 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 349 shares in the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO James A. Lico sold 175,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.40, for a total value of $12,670,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 428,585 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,029,554. This trade represents a 28.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 14,327 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.88, for a total value of $1,058,478.76. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 51,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,823,290. This trade represents a 21.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.92% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on FTV shares. Citigroup cut their target price on Fortive from $84.00 to $69.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $86.00 target price (up from $84.00) on shares of Fortive in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. BNP Paribas restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Fortive in a research note on Thursday. Truist Financial cut their target price on Fortive from $90.00 to $81.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Fortive from $73.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.62.

Fortive Stock Performance

Fortive stock opened at $70.76 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $69.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $74.21. Fortive Co. has a 52-week low of $60.39 and a 52-week high of $83.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.11.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.85. Fortive had a return on equity of 13.15% and a net margin of 13.36%. The firm had revenue of $1.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.49 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.83 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Fortive Co. will post 4.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortive announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Tuesday, May 27th that allows the company to repurchase 15,630,000 shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.