KBC Group NV Acquires 6,440 Shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

KBC Group NV lifted its stake in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 3.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 203,043 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,440 shares during the period. KBC Group NV owned approximately 0.06% of Fortive worth $16,027,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in Fortive during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new position in Fortive during the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Fortive during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in Fortive in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Fortive during the 1st quarter valued at $32,000. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Fortive Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:FTV opened at $74.82 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Fortive Co. has a 12-month low of $66.15 and a 12-month high of $87.10. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $75.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $74.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.13.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The technology company reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.53 billion during 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 quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.85 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Fortive Co. will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be given 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, November 29th. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 171,808 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.71, for a total value of $12,320,351.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 42,651 shares in the company, valued at $3,058,503.21. This trade represents a 80.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 5,000 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.58, for a total transaction of $382,900.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 48,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,702,336.68. This trade represents a 9.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 197,895 shares of company stock valued at $14,261,051 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on FTV. Raymond James upgraded Fortive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Fortive from $82.00 to $77.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Fortive from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $90.00 to $92.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Fortive from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Fortive from $85.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.82.

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.