Fortive (NYSE:FTV) Reaches New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV) reached a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $64.56 and last traded at $64.3450, with a volume of 471059 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $62.92.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FTV has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Fortive from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Fortive from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Truist Financial increased their target price on Fortive from $61.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Fortive in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Fortive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Fortive has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.00.

Fortive Stock Up 1.2%

The firm has a market cap of $19.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.15 and a beta of 1.06. The business’s 50-day moving average is $60.89 and its 200-day moving average is $58.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 0.71.

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

Fortive Dividend Announcement

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

Fortive declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Monday, May 4th that allows the company to repurchase 20,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 47,557 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.65% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortive

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of FTV. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of Fortive by 97.1% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 5,706 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $428,000 after purchasing an additional 2,811 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in shares of Fortive by 6.9% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 6,619 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $484,000 after buying an additional 430 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in Fortive by 246.2% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 502 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 357 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position 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 buying an additional 1,062 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC grew its holdings in Fortive by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 80,595 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,201,000 after acquiring an additional 2,548 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

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.