Auto Owners Insurance Co Raises Stake in Fortive Corporation $FTV

Key Points

• Auto Owners Insurance Co dramatically increased its Fortive stake by 5,421% in the fourth quarter, ending with 240,164 shares valued at about $1.33 million.
• Fortive reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $0.70 versus $0.64 expected and revenue of $2.14 billion, up 7.7% year over year.
• The company’s board authorized a 20 million-share buyback and it also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.06 per share, signaling confidence in its valuation and cash returns to shareholders.

Auto Owners Insurance Co grew its position in Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV - Free Report) by 5,421.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 240,164 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 235,814 shares during the quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co owned approximately 0.08% of Fortive worth $1,326,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Dodge & Cox increased its stake in Fortive by 28.4% in the 3rd quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 42,595,794 shares of the technology company's stock worth $2,086,768,000 after buying an additional 9,422,189 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Fortive during the fourth quarter worth about $491,928,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 7,479,776 shares in the last quarter. Viking Global Investors LP raised its stake in Fortive by 28.7% during the 3rd quarter. Viking Global Investors LP now owns 20,483,680 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,003,495,000 after purchasing an additional 4,571,056 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Fortive by 29.2% in the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 4,532,031 shares in the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Fortive

In other Fortive 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 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 trade represents a 35.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.65% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on FTV shares. Zacks Research cut shares of Fortive from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Fortive from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Argus upgraded shares of Fortive from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $68.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, May 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Fortive from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a "hold" rating and set a $61.00 price objective (up from $56.00) on shares of Fortive in a report on Monday, May 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $61.62.

Fortive Stock Performance

FTV stock opened at $61.05 on Friday. Fortive Corporation has a twelve month low of $46.34 and a twelve month high of $71.85. The firm has a market cap of $18.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.56 and a beta of 1.06. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $60.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $57.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

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

Fortive announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Monday, May 4th that authorizes the company to buyback 20,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 6th. Investors of record on Monday, June 22nd will be paid a $0.06 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 22nd. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Fortive's dividend 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.

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