Peter Underwood Sells 8,662 Shares of Fortive (NYSE:FTV) Stock

Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV) SVP Peter Underwood sold 8,662 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.59, for a total value of $533,492.58. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 79,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,872,877.62. This represents a 9.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Fortive Trading Down 0.2%

NYSE:FTV opened at $61.54 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.00. Fortive Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $46.54 and a fifty-two week high of $64.56. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $61.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $59.10. The stock has a market cap of $18.59 billion, a PE ratio of 36.41 and a beta of 1.06.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The technology company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.07 billion. Fortive had a return on equity of 15.33% and a net margin of 12.38%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.90 EPS. Fortive has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.950-3.050 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Fortive Corporation will post 3.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortive announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Monday, May 4th that authorizes the company to repurchase 20,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 22nd were given a $0.06 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 22nd. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 14.20%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortive

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in Fortive by 97.1% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 5,706 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $428,000 after acquiring an additional 2,811 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in shares of Fortive by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 6,619 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $484,000 after purchasing an additional 430 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in Fortive by 246.2% in 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. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Fortive by 87.9% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,270 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $118,000 after acquiring an additional 1,062 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC grew its holdings in Fortive by 3.3% during the second quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 80,595 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,201,000 after purchasing an additional 2,548 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FTV has been the topic of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Fortive from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Weiss Ratings cut Fortive from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Truist Financial reissued a “hold” rating and set a $68.00 price objective (up from $67.00) on shares of Fortive in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Fortive from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Fortive from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.10.

Fortive Company 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.