Drake & Associates LLC Sells 17,812 Shares of Fortive Corporation $FTV

Drake & Associates LLC decreased its position in Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV) by 33.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 35,935 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 17,812 shares during the period. Drake & Associates LLC’s holdings in Fortive were worth $1,984,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Dodge & Cox lifted its position in shares of Fortive by 28.4% during the 3rd quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 42,595,794 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,086,768,000 after buying an additional 9,422,189 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Fortive in the 4th quarter worth about $491,928,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its stake in Fortive by 102,687.8% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 7,487,060 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $413,361,000 after acquiring an additional 7,479,776 shares during the period. Viking Global Investors LP raised its stake in Fortive by 28.7% in the 3rd quarter. Viking Global Investors LP now owns 20,483,680 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,003,495,000 after acquiring an additional 4,571,056 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Fortive by 29.2% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,046,352 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,106,760,000 after acquiring an additional 4,532,031 shares during the period. 94.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on FTV shares. Zacks Research lowered shares of Fortive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Truist Financial reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $61.00 price target (up from $56.00) on shares of Fortive in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Fortive from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Fortive in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Fortive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $68.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $61.62.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Fortive news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 47,557 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 4th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $5,337,901.80. This trade represents a 35.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.65% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Fortive Stock Up 0.6%

FTV stock opened at $61.05 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $60.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $57.29. Fortive Corporation has a twelve month low of $46.34 and a twelve month high of $71.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.61 billion, a PE ratio of 36.56 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a quick ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

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

Fortive Announces Dividend

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

Fortive announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Monday, May 4th that allows the company to repurchase 20,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.