BlackRock Inc. Takes Position in Fortive Corporation $FTV

Key Points

• BlackRock acquired 26.6 million Fortive shares worth approximately $1.63 billion, representing an 8.82% stake. Institutional investors collectively own 94.94% of the company.
• Fortive exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $0.74 in EPS versus the $0.71 consensus and $1.10 billion in revenue, up 8% year over year. Fiscal 2026 EPS guidance is $2.95–$3.05.
• The company authorized repurchases of up to 20 million shares and increased its quarterly dividend to $0.07 per share, implying a 0.5% annualized yield.

BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 26,624,052 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $1,626,463,000. BlackRock Inc. owned 8.82% of Fortive at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dodge & Cox lifted its stake in Fortive by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 44,157,822 shares of the technology company's stock worth $2,437,953,000 after purchasing an additional 1,562,028 shares during the last quarter. Viking Global Investors LP raised its stake in Fortive by 28.7% during the third quarter. Viking Global Investors LP now owns 20,483,680 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,003,495,000 after acquiring 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 fourth 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 acquiring an additional 4,532,031 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Fortive in the fourth quarter worth about $491,928,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Fortive by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,787,747 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $483,327,000 after purchasing an additional 116,939 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.94% of the company's stock.

Fortive Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of FTV stock opened at $59.41 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $17.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.15 and a beta of 1.06. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $61.16 and a 200-day moving average of $59.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. Fortive Corporation has a 1-year low of $46.54 and a 1-year high of $64.56.

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

Fortive announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Monday, May 4th that authorizes the company to repurchase 20,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Fortive Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Investors of record on Friday, September 4th will be given a dividend of $0.07 per share. This represents a $0.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. This is a positive change from Fortive's previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. Fortive's dividend payout ratio is currently 14.20%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 8,662 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.59, for a total transaction of $533,492.58. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 79,118 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,872,877.62. This trade represents a 9.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.65% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on FTV shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Fortive from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Fortive from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Fortive from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Argus reissued a "buy" rating and set a $68.00 price objective on shares of Fortive in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Fortive from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $63.10.

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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