279,467 Shares in Fortive Corporation $FTV Acquired by Freestone Grove Partners LP

Freestone Grove Partners LP bought a new stake in Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 279,467 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,073,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Root Financial Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Fortive by 43.6% during the 4th quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 553 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares during the period. Arkadios Wealth Advisors grew its holdings in shares of Fortive by 2.1% in the first quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 9,047 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $500,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the period. Rothschild Investment LLC grew its holdings in shares of Fortive by 20.5% in the fourth quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 1,113 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in Fortive by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 8,733 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $482,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearstead Trust LLC increased its position in Fortive by 29.8% during the fourth quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 953 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 219 shares during the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fortive Price Performance

Shares of FTV opened at $59.93 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $61.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $59.47. The stock has a market cap of $18.10 billion, a PE ratio of 35.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.06. Fortive Corporation has a 1-year low of $46.54 and a 1-year high of $64.56. 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 (NYSE:FTV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The technology company reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.07 billion. Fortive had a net margin of 12.38% and a return on equity of 15.33%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. Fortive has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.950-3.050 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Fortive Corporation will post 3.02 EPS for the current year.

Fortive Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 4th will be given a $0.07 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. This is a positive change from Fortive’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 14.20%.

Fortive announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Monday, May 4th that permits the company to repurchase 20,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on FTV shares. Argus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $68.00 target price on shares of Fortive in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Truist Financial restated a “hold” rating and set a $68.00 price target (up from $67.00) on shares of Fortive in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Fortive from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on Fortive from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Fortive from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.10.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Fortive news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 8,662 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.59, for a total transaction of $533,492.58. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 79,118 shares in the company, valued at $4,872,877.62. This represents a 9.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.65% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.