Bank of America Corp DE Sells 237,298 Shares of Fortive Corporation $FTV

Key Points

• Bank of America reduced its Fortive stake by 13.3%, selling 237,298 shares during the first quarter and retaining 1.55 million shares valued at approximately $85.7 million. Institutional investors collectively own 94.94% of Fortive.
• Analysts remain generally cautious, with Fortive receiving a consensus “Hold” rating and an average price target of $63.10. Recent target increases from several firms placed objectives between $63 and $65.
• Fortive reported quarterly adjusted earnings of $0.74 per share, exceeding estimates, while revenue rose 8% year over year to $1.10 billion. The company also authorized a 20-million-share buyback and declared a quarterly dividend of $0.06 per share.

Bank of America Corp DE decreased its holdings in shares of Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV - Free Report) by 13.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,550,282 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 237,298 shares during the quarter. Bank of America Corp DE owned about 0.51% of Fortive worth $85,700,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of FTV. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Fortive in the 4th quarter worth $491,928,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its position in shares of Fortive by 102,687.8% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 7,487,060 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $413,361,000 after buying an additional 7,479,776 shares in the last quarter. Viking Global Investors LP raised its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 4,571,056 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $1,106,760,000 after acquiring an additional 4,532,031 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Fortive by 205.6% in the 3rd 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 own 94.94% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on FTV shares. Citigroup boosted their price objective on 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. raised their price objective on Fortive from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on Fortive from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Fortive from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Fortive from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $63.10.

Fortive Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of NYSE FTV opened at $61.69 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.50 and a beta of 1.06. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $61.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.91. Fortive Corporation has a 52-week low of $46.34 and a 52-week high of $64.56.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The technology company reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.07 billion. Fortive had a return on equity of 15.33% and a net margin of 12.38%.Fortive's quarterly revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. Fortive has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.950-3.050 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Fortive Corporation will post 3.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortive announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Monday, May 4th that allows the company to repurchase 20,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.06 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 22nd. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Fortive's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 14.20%.

Fortive 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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