Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) Short Interest Update

Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) saw a significant drop in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,040,000 shares, a drop of 8.7% from the January 15th total of 5,520,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,570,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.0 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortive

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Fortive by 9.7% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 42,947,135 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,221,036,000 after purchasing an additional 3,810,997 shares during the last quarter. Flossbach Von Storch SE boosted its position in Fortive by 1.2% during the 4th 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 period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Fortive by 164.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,730,161 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $654,763,000 after buying an additional 5,429,566 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Fortive by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,294,930 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $620,480,000 after buying an additional 103,015 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Fortive by 13.8% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 8,041,324 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $634,701,000 after acquiring an additional 977,428 shares during the period. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Fortive Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of FTV traded down $1.08 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $80.59. 2,713,487 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,179,319. Fortive has a 1-year low of $66.15 and a 1-year high of $87.10. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $77.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $75.73. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a market cap of $27.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.15.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 7th. The technology company reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.05. Fortive had a return on equity of 12.56% and a net margin of 14.35%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Fortive will post 3.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. Fortive’s payout ratio is 12.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on FTV shares. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Fortive from $77.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. UBS Group assumed coverage on Fortive in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $84.00 price target for the company. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Fortive from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. StockNews.com cut shares of Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Argus reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Fortive in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Fortive currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.64.

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.