Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Sells 58,734 Shares of Fortive Corporation $FTV

Key Points

• Assenagon Asset Management cut its Fortive stake by 80.4% in Q1, selling 58,734 shares and leaving it with 14,336 shares valued at about $792,000.
• Fortive posted better-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $0.70 versus the $0.64 consensus and revenue of $2.14 billion, up 7.7% year over year.
• The company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.06 per share and a new 20 million-share buyback program, while analysts currently rate the stock a consensus Hold with an average target price of $61.83.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lessened its position in shares of Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV - Free Report) by 80.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 14,336 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 58,734 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.'s holdings in Fortive were worth $792,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in FTV. DV Equities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Root Financial Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Fortive by 43.6% in the 4th quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 553 shares of the technology company's stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 168 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Fortive by 246.2% in 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 during the period. Dorato Capital Management purchased a new position in Fortive in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its stake in Fortive by 149.3% in the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 845 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 506 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.94% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FTV has been the topic of several recent research reports. Argus upgraded 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. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Fortive in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Citigroup increased their price objective on Fortive from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of Fortive from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Fortive from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $61.83.

Insider Activity at Fortive

In other Fortive news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 47,557 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.81, for a total transaction of $2,891,941.17. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 87,780 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,337,901.80. This trade represents a 35.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.65% of the company's stock.

Fortive Stock Performance

NYSE FTV opened at $62.70 on Friday. Fortive Corporation has a 52-week low of $46.34 and a 52-week high of $63.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 0.71. The company has a market capitalization of $19.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.55 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a fifty day moving average of $60.46 and a 200-day moving average of $57.81.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The technology company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.04 billion. Fortive had a return on equity of 12.66% and a net margin of 12.84%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.85 EPS. Fortive has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.900-3.000 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Fortive Corporation will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.06 per share. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 22nd. Fortive's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.37%.

Fortive declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share 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 reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.

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