Champlain Investment Partners LLC Has $258.16 Million Position in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Champlain Investment Partners LLC trimmed its position in shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 27.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,442,061 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,334,665 shares during the quarter. Fortive accounts for 1.6% of Champlain Investment Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Champlain Investment Partners LLC owned 0.99% of Fortive worth $258,155,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Dodge & Cox bought a new position in shares of Fortive in the fourth quarter valued at $583,493,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Fortive during the 4th quarter valued at $412,445,000. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC purchased a new position in shares of Fortive in the 4th quarter worth about $136,794,000. Clean Energy Transition LLP purchased a new stake in Fortive during the fourth quarter worth about $58,829,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Fortive by 28.4% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,695,319 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $127,149,000 after acquiring an additional 374,837 shares during the period. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Fortive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FTV opened at $64.98 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.16. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $74.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $76.03. Fortive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $60.39 and a fifty-two week high of $83.32. The company has a market capitalization of $22.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.12.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 7th. The technology company reported $1.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Fortive Co. will post 4.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.56%.

Insider Activity

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Fortive from $90.00 to $81.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Fortive from $84.00 to $69.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Fortive from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. BNP Paribas cut Fortive from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $67.00 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Fortive from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Fortive currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $81.92.

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.