Caxton Associates LLP Purchases 36,268 Shares of Fortive Corporation $FTV

Caxton Associates LLP increased its holdings in shares of Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV) by 180.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 56,396 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 36,268 shares during the period. Caxton Associates LLP’s holdings in Fortive were worth $3,118,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. DV Equities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Fortive during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Root Financial Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Fortive by 43.6% in the 4th quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 553 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. Main Street Group LTD bought a new position in Fortive during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in 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 last quarter. Finally, Dorato Capital Management purchased a new position in Fortive during the fourth quarter valued at $45,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortive

In other news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 47,557 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 87,780 shares in the company, valued at $5,337,901.80. This trade represents a 35.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.65% of the company’s stock.

Fortive Price Performance

Shares of FTV stock opened at $62.39 on Friday. 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 capitalization of $18.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.36 and a beta of 1.06. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $60.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $58.50. Fortive Corporation has a one year low of $46.34 and a one year high of $64.33.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The technology company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. Fortive had a return on equity of 12.66% and a net margin of 12.84%.The firm’s revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.85 EPS. Fortive has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.900-3.000 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Fortive Corporation will post 2.98 EPS for the current year.

Fortive declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Monday, May 4th that allows the company to buyback 20,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Fortive from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Argus raised Fortive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $68.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Fortive from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Fortive from $61.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of Fortive from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.00.

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.