Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC Makes New Investment in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 1,823,920 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $136,794,000. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC owned 0.53% of Fortive as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of FTV. Flossbach Von Storch SE boosted its position in Fortive by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Flossbach Von Storch SE now owns 11,903,240 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $892,743,000 after purchasing an additional 137,479 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Fortive by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,191,915 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $644,346,000 after purchasing an additional 46,704 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Fortive by 13.8% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 8,041,324 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $634,701,000 after buying an additional 977,428 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its stake in shares of Fortive by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 7,904,282 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $594,108,000 after buying an additional 166,123 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Fortive in the fourth quarter worth approximately $412,445,000. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Fortive news, CAO Christopher M. Mulhall sold 6,493 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.95, for a total transaction of $519,115.35. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,283 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,941,425.85. The trade was a 21.10 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 5,688 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.52, for a total transaction of $457,997.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 47,141 shares in the company, valued at $3,795,793.32. This trade represents a 10.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 243,385 shares of company stock worth $19,508,529 in the last quarter. Insiders own 1.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FTV has been the subject of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Fortive from $77.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Fortive from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Fortive from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Citigroup downgraded Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $92.00 to $86.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fortive presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.18.

Fortive Stock Down 2.7 %

FTV opened at $72.57 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $24.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.16. 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 firm’s fifty day moving average price is $78.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $76.97. Fortive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $66.15 and a fifty-two week high of $85.93.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 7th. The technology company reported $1.17 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.05. Fortive had a return on equity of 13.15% and a net margin of 13.36%. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.98 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Fortive Co. will post 4.05 EPS for the current year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.56%.

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.