American Century Companies Inc. Acquires 28,892 Shares of Fortive Corporation $FTV

Key Points

• American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Fortive Corporation by 1.2%, owning approximately 2.51 million shares valued at around $183.5 million.
• Fortive reported a quarterly earnings miss, with EPS of $0.58, falling short of the consensus estimate of $0.60, while revenue also declined compared to the previous year.
• Fortive's board has authorized a stock buyback plan to purchase up to 15.63 million shares, signaling potential confidence in the stock's undervaluation.

American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV - Free Report) by 1.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,507,958 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 28,892 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 0.74% of Fortive worth $183,532,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Ethic Inc. increased its position in Fortive by 11.9% during the first quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 62,354 shares of the technology company's stock worth $4,583,000 after buying an additional 6,627 shares during the last quarter. Element Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Fortive during the first quarter worth $2,654,000. Aberdeen Group plc increased its position in Fortive by 32.6% during the first quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 297,182 shares of the technology company's stock worth $21,422,000 after buying an additional 73,135 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Fortive by 0.6% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,804,838 shares of the technology company's stock worth $205,226,000 after buying an additional 16,243 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Neuberger Berman Group LLC increased its position in Fortive by 20.3% during the first quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 22,897 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,676,000 after buying an additional 3,861 shares during the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on FTV. Cowen downgraded shares of Fortive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Fortive from $88.00 to $82.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. BNP Paribas reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Fortive in a research report on Thursday, June 12th. Barclays set a $54.00 price target on Fortive and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Fortive from $72.00 to $55.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $65.57.

Fortive Stock Performance

FTV stock traded up $0.0480 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $48.2080. 4,465,322 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,329,489. Fortive Corporation has a twelve month low of $46.34 and a twelve month high of $83.32. The company has a market capitalization of $16.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 1.08. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $55.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $66.80. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The technology company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.60 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $1.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.54 billion. Fortive had a return on equity of 11.96% and a net margin of 13.62%.The firm's quarterly revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.93 earnings per share. Fortive has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.500-2.600 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Fortive Corporation will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortive declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, May 27th that allows the company to buyback 15,630,000 shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Fortive Profile

Fortive Corporation designs, develops, manufactures, and services professional and engineered products, software, and services in the United States, China, and internationally. It operates in three segments: Intelligent Operating Solutions, Precision Technologies, and Advanced Healthcare Solutions. The Intelligent Operating Solutions segment provides advanced instrumentation, software, and services, including electrical test and measurement, facility and asset lifecycle software applications, and connected worker safety and compliance solutions for manufacturing, process industries, healthcare, utilities and power, communications and electronics, and other industries.