First Trust Advisors LP Decreases Position in Fortive Corporation $FTV

First Trust Advisors LP decreased its position in Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV) by 28.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 669,656 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 262,742 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 0.22% of Fortive worth $37,019,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of FTV. Root Financial Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Fortive by 43.6% in the fourth quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 553 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 168 shares during the period. Rothschild Investment LLC lifted its position in shares of Fortive by 20.5% during the 4th quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 1,113 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 189 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in shares of Fortive by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 8,733 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $482,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the period. Clearstead Trust LLC grew its stake in shares of Fortive by 29.8% during the 4th quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 953 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 219 shares during the period. Finally, Transcend Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Fortive by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,534 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $306,000 after acquiring an additional 252 shares during the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Fortive Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of FTV opened at $62.85 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $60.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.59. The company has a market capitalization of $19.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.63 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.57. Fortive Corporation has a 1-year low of $46.34 and a 1-year high of $64.33.

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

Fortive announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Monday, May 4th that permits the company to buyback 20,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Fortive

In related news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 47,557 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.81, for a total value of $2,891,941.17. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 87,780 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,337,901.80. This represents a 35.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FTV has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Fortive from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on shares of Fortive from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Citigroup lifted their target price 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 target on shares of Fortive from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Fortive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.00.

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.