Fortive (NYSE:FTV) Sets New 12-Month High – Here’s Why

Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV) shares hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $63.52 and last traded at $63.5440, with a volume of 372889 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $62.65.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on FTV shares. 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Fortive from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Fortive in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Citigroup raised their price target on Fortive from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $61.83.

Fortive Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $19.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.06 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $60.50 and its 200 day moving average is $57.87.

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

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 6th. Investors of record on Monday, June 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.06 per share. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 22nd. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14.37%.

Fortive declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Monday, May 4th that authorizes the company to buyback 20,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 47,557 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.81, for a total transaction of $2,891,941.17. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 87,780 shares in the company, valued at $5,337,901.80. The trade was a 35.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.65% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Fortive

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FTV. Dodge & Cox boosted its position in Fortive by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 44,157,822 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,437,953,000 after buying an additional 1,562,028 shares during the period. Viking Global Investors LP raised its stake in shares of Fortive by 28.7% during the third 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 last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Fortive by 29.2% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,046,352 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,106,760,000 after purchasing an additional 4,532,031 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Fortive during the fourth quarter worth $491,928,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Fortive by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,787,747 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $483,327,000 after purchasing an additional 116,939 shares during the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.