Sterling Investment Management LLC Acquires 20,960 Shares of Fortive Corporation $FTV

Sterling Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV) during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 20,960 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,149,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in Fortive during the first quarter worth about $11,854,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its position in Fortive by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 2,026,810 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $112,066,000 after acquiring an additional 133,447 shares during the period. First Nebraska Trust Co bought a new stake in Fortive in the first quarter worth about $2,453,000. OP Asset Management Ltd bought a new stake in Fortive in the first quarter worth about $1,900,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new position in Fortive in the second quarter valued at about $99,326,000. Institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Fortive Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of FTV opened at $57.72 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $57.61 and a 200 day moving average of $59.35. Fortive Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $48.29 and a fifty-two week high of $64.56. The firm has a market cap of $17.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.24.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The technology company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.07 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.90 earnings per share. The company’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. As a group, research analysts forecast that Fortive Corporation will post 3.02 EPS for the current year.

Fortive Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 4th were issued a dividend of $0.07 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. This is an increase from Fortive’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. Fortive’s payout ratio is presently 16.57%.

Insider Transactions at Fortive

In other Fortive news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 8,662 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.59, for a total transaction of $533,492.58. Following the completion of 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 SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on FTV shares. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Fortive from $63.00 to $59.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of Fortive from $68.00 to $63.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 5th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Fortive from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Argus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $68.00 price objective on shares of Fortive in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Finally, Evercore initiated coverage on Fortive in a research note on Monday, September 28th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $60.00 price objective on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fortive presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $61.27.

Fortive Profile

Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV) is a diversified industrial technology company that develops and provides connected products, software, and services for customers in healthcare, manufacturing, infrastructure, and other regulated or asset-intensive industries. Its offerings are designed to improve productivity, operating efficiency, safety, compliance, and the reliability of critical equipment and processes.

The company’s businesses have included electronic test and measurement instruments, calibration and asset-management solutions, workplace and public-safety products, industrial software, and healthcare technologies.