Invst LLC Purchases New Stake in Fortive Corporation $FTV

Invst LLC acquired a new position in Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 14,845 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $907,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. DV Equities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Fortive during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Virtus Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Fortive in the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. Keating Financial Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Fortive in the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Root Financial Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Fortive by 43.6% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Finally, Main Street Group LTD bought a new stake in shares of Fortive during the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 8,662 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.59, for a total transaction of $533,492.58. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 79,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,872,877.62. The trade was a 9.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.65% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Fortive Stock Performance

Shares of FTV opened at $59.49 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $61.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.97 billion, a PE ratio of 35.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. Fortive Corporation has a 52-week low of $46.54 and a 52-week high of $64.56.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The technology company reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.03. Fortive had a net margin of 12.38% and a return on equity of 15.33%. The firm had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.07 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.90 EPS. Fortive’s quarterly revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. Fortive has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.950-3.050 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Fortive Corporation will post 3.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortive declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase 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. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Fortive Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Investors of record on Friday, September 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.07 per share. This is a boost from Fortive’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.20%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on FTV shares. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Fortive from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on Fortive from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Citigroup raised their target price on Fortive from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Fortive from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Argus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $68.00 target price on shares of Fortive in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.10.

Fortive Profile

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.