Short Interest in Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) Grows By 17.2%

Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 3,540,000 shares, a growth of 17.2% from the September 15th total of 3,020,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,260,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.6 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Fortive news, SVP Jonathan L. Schwarz sold 14,223 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.80, for a total value of $1,049,657.40. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 68,161 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,030,281.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Charles E. Mclaughlin sold 6,864 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.03, for a total transaction of $508,141.92. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 73,391 shares in the company, valued at $5,433,135.73. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Jonathan L. Schwarz sold 14,223 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.80, for a total transaction of $1,049,657.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 68,161 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,030,281.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Boston Partners boosted its stake in Fortive by 19.3% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 6,463,772 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $554,253,000 after purchasing an additional 1,045,245 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Fortive by 47.1% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 6,244,117 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $537,119,000 after buying an additional 1,999,792 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Fortive by 8.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,668,448 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $197,726,000 after acquiring an additional 205,893 shares in the last quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. grew its stake in Fortive by 6.8% during the second quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 2,641,314 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $195,721,000 after acquiring an additional 168,368 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its holdings in Fortive by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,565,443 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $190,099,000 after acquiring an additional 94,170 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Fortive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Fortive from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Mizuho raised shares of Fortive from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $80.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Fortive from $82.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $77.00 price target on shares of Fortive in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.36.

Fortive Stock Performance

FTV traded down $0.07 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $77.23. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,303,819 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,847,781. Fortive has a one year low of $63.05 and a one year high of $87.10. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $74.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $75.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm has a market cap of $27.19 billion, a PE ratio of 30.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.12.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.57 billion. Fortive had a return on equity of 12.32% and a net margin of 14.39%. Fortive’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.85 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Fortive will post 3.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 17th were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.65%.

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.