Level Four Advisory Services LLC Acquires 2,755 Shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV)

Level Four Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) by 9.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 32,011 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,755 shares during the quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Fortive were worth $2,401,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Flossbach Von Storch SE increased its holdings 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 worth $892,743,000 after buying an additional 137,479 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position 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 valued at $644,346,000 after acquiring an additional 46,704 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake 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 worth $634,701,000 after purchasing an additional 977,428 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its holdings 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 worth $594,108,000 after purchasing an additional 166,123 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Fortive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $412,445,000. 94.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on FTV. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Fortive from $77.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Fortive from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Fortive from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Citigroup cut shares of Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $92.00 to $86.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.18.

Insider Activity at Fortive

In other Fortive news, CEO James A. Lico sold 196,117 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.38, for a total transaction of $15,763,884.46. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 528,851 shares in the company, valued at $42,509,043.38. This trade represents a 27.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 5,688 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.52, for a total value of $457,997.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 47,141 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,795,793.32. The trade was a 10.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 243,385 shares of company stock valued at $19,508,529 over the last three months. 1.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Fortive Stock Down 2.7 %

FTV opened at $72.57 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.16. Fortive Co. has a one year low of $66.15 and a one year high of $85.93. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $78.35 and a 200-day moving average price of $76.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 7th. The technology company reported $1.17 earnings per share (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 quarter last year, the business earned $0.98 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Fortive Co. will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.56%.

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.