Fortive (NYSE:FTV) Price Target Cut to $98.00

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) had its price objective dropped by investment analysts at Citigroup from $101.00 to $98.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the technology company’s stock. Citigroup’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 28.59% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on FTV. Barclays increased their price target on Fortive from $89.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Fortive from $93.00 to $83.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Fortive from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $95.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Fortive from $92.00 to $84.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Mizuho raised their target price on Fortive from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $86.46.

Fortive Price Performance

Shares of FTV stock traded up $0.16 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $76.21. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,336,668 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,687,384. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $84.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $76.13. The company has a market capitalization of $26.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.23, a PEG ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.13. Fortive has a fifty-two week low of $62.70 and a fifty-two week high of $87.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 2.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The technology company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.04. Fortive had a return on equity of 12.12% and a net margin of 14.27%. The firm had revenue of $1.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.53 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that Fortive will post 3.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Fortive

In other news, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 9,106 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.50, for a total value of $787,669.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 36,558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,162,267. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Fortive news, CEO Tamara S. Newcombe sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.00, for a total transaction of $425,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 55,017 shares in the company, valued at $4,676,445. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 9,106 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.50, for a total value of $787,669.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 36,558 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,162,267. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 63,937 shares of company stock valued at $5,475,122. Corporate insiders own 0.95% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortive

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Fortive in the third quarter worth $25,000. Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO purchased a new stake in shares of Fortive in the first quarter worth $26,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC bought a new position in Fortive in the third quarter valued at $28,000. Cetera Trust Company N.A bought a new position in Fortive in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, First Command Advisory Services Inc. bought a new position in Fortive in the third quarter valued at $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

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.