Prudential PLC Trims Position in Fortive Corporation $FTV

Prudential PLC cut its holdings in shares of Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV) by 6.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 169,655 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 11,621 shares during the period. Prudential PLC’s holdings in Fortive were worth $9,367,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Fortive by 246.2% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 502 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 357 shares during the period. Root Financial Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Fortive by 43.6% during the fourth quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 553 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 168 shares during the period. Dorato Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of Fortive during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of Fortive by 149.3% during the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 845 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 506 shares during the period. Finally, Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Fortive in the fourth quarter worth $49,000. 94.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Fortive

In other news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 47,557 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.81, for a total value of $2,891,941.17. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 87,780 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,337,901.80. This represents a 35.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FTV has been the subject of a number of research reports. Truist Financial reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $61.00 price objective (up from $56.00) on shares of Fortive in a report on Monday, May 4th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Fortive in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Barclays increased their price objective on Fortive from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Fortive from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Fortive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $61.62.

Fortive Price Performance

FTV opened at $61.30 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $56.71. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a market cap of $18.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.06. Fortive Corporation has a 12-month low of $46.34 and a 12-month high of $73.77.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The technology company reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.06. Fortive had a return on equity of 12.66% and a net margin of 12.84%.The firm had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.85 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. Fortive has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.900-3.000 EPS. Research analysts predict that Fortive Corporation will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortive announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, May 4th that authorizes the company to repurchase 20,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

About Fortive

Fortive Corporation (NYSE: FTV) is a diversified industrial technology company headquartered in Everett, Washington. The company was created through a spin‑off from Danaher Corporation in 2016 and has since focused on building a portfolio of professional instrumentation and industrial technology businesses. In 2020 Fortive completed a further portfolio separation with the spin‑off of Vontier, concentrating Fortive’s activities on higher‑margin instrumentation, software and services.

Fortive’s operations center on professional test and measurement, sensing and monitoring, software‑enabled solutions, and lifecycle services that support industrial and commercial customers.