Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Cuts Stock Position in Fortive Corporation $FTV

Key Points

• Banque Cantonale Vaudoise cut its Fortive stake by 53.8% in the first quarter, selling 51,745 shares and leaving it with 44,385 shares worth about $2.45 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 also authorized a 20 million-share buyback and declared a quarterly dividend of $0.06 per share, while analysts currently rate the stock a consensus “Hold” with an average price target of $61.62.

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise trimmed its holdings in shares of Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV - Free Report) by 53.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 44,385 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 51,745 shares during the period. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise's holdings in Fortive were worth $2,454,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in Fortive by 97.1% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 5,706 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $428,000 after acquiring an additional 2,811 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in Fortive by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 6,619 shares of the technology company's stock worth $484,000 after buying an additional 430 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in Fortive by 246.2% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 502 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 357 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Fortive by 87.9% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,270 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $118,000 after buying an additional 1,062 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Fortive by 3.3% during the second quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 80,595 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $4,201,000 after acquiring an additional 2,548 shares in the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Fortive Stock Performance

NYSE:FTV opened at $61.67 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market cap of $18.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.93 and a beta of 1.06. Fortive Corporation has a twelve month low of $46.34 and a twelve month high of $71.85. The company has a 50-day moving average of $60.33 and a 200-day moving average of $57.57.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. Fortive had a return on equity of 12.66% and a net margin of 12.84%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.85 EPS. Fortive has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.900-3.000 EPS. Analysts forecast that Fortive Corporation will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortive declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Monday, May 4th that authorizes the company to buyback 20,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 6th. Investors of record on Monday, June 22nd will be issued a $0.06 dividend. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 22nd. Fortive's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortive

In other news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 47,557 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 87,780 shares in the company, valued at $5,337,901.80. The trade was a 35.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.65% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FTV has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Fortive from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Fortive from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Fortive from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Zacks Research downgraded Fortive from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Truist Financial reaffirmed a "hold" rating and set a $61.00 price objective (up from $56.00) on shares of Fortive in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $61.62.

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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