Fortive Corporation $FTV Shares Bought by Groupe la Francaise

Groupe la Francaise raised its holdings in Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV) by 9.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 122,559 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,363 shares during the quarter. Groupe la Francaise’s holdings in Fortive were worth $6,775,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Fortive during the 4th quarter worth about $491,928,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its stake in Fortive by 102,687.8% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 7,487,060 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $413,361,000 after buying an additional 7,479,776 shares during the period. Viking Global Investors LP boosted its stake in Fortive by 28.7% during the third quarter. Viking Global Investors LP now owns 20,483,680 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,003,495,000 after buying an additional 4,571,056 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in 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 buying an additional 4,532,031 shares during the period. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Fortive by 205.6% during the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 3,719,200 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $182,204,000 after acquiring an additional 2,502,300 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Fortive

In other news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 47,557 shares of the company’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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.65% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Fortive from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective 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 company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Argus raised Fortive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $68.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.10.

Fortive Trading Up 1.4%

NYSE FTV opened at $59.30 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $61.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $58.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 1.24. Fortive Corporation has a one year low of $46.34 and a one year high of $64.56. The firm has a market cap of $17.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.09 and a beta of 1.06.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The technology company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.03. Fortive had a net margin of 12.38% and a return on equity of 15.33%. The firm had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.07 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.90 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Fortive has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.950-3.050 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Fortive Corporation will post 2.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortive declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Monday, May 4th that authorizes the company to repurchase 20,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Fortive Announces Dividend

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

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.