Fortive Corporation $FTV Shares Acquired by Candriam S.C.A.

Candriam S.C.A. lifted its position in shares of Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV) by 404.5% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 327,358 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 262,471 shares during the period. Candriam S.C.A.’s holdings in Fortive were worth $18,096,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Fortive by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 109,805 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,036,000 after acquiring an additional 3,310 shares during the period. Munich Reinsurance Co Stock Corp in Munich boosted its position in Fortive by 221.8% during the 1st quarter. Munich Reinsurance Co Stock Corp in Munich now owns 302,239 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $16,708,000 after purchasing an additional 208,304 shares during the period. Montag A & Associates Inc. increased its holdings in Fortive by 28.3% in the 1st quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 15,621 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $864,000 after purchasing an additional 3,444 shares in the last quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Fortive in the 1st quarter valued at $215,000. Finally, Ascentis Independent Advisors purchased a new position in Fortive in the first quarter valued at about $69,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Fortive Stock Up 1.8%

FTV traded up $1.11 during trading on Friday, hitting $62.26. The company had a trading volume of 1,544,218 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,552,204. Fortive Corporation has a 1-year low of $46.34 and a 1-year high of $64.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.57. The company has a market cap of $18.98 billion, a PE ratio of 37.28 and a beta of 1.06. The business has a 50-day moving average of $60.56 and a 200-day moving average of $58.10.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The technology company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. Fortive had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 12.66%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.85 EPS. Fortive has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.900-3.000 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Fortive Corporation will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 6th. Investors of record on Monday, June 22nd were issued a $0.06 dividend. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 22nd. Fortive’s payout ratio is currently 14.37%.

Fortive announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Monday, May 4th that permits the company to buyback 20,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Zacks Research downgraded Fortive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Argus raised Fortive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $68.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on Fortive from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Fortive from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Fortive from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Fortive has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.83.

Insider Transactions at Fortive

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

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.