Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec Invests $16.54 Million in Fortive Corporation $FTV

Key Points

• Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec invested approximately $16.54 million in Fortive Corporation, acquiring 226,000 shares during the first quarter.
• Fortive's recent earnings report revealed EPS of $0.58, which fell short of expectations, with a revenue decline of 0.4% year-over-year.
• The company has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.06 per share, reflecting a 0.5% yield and a low dividend payout ratio of 14.41%.

Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec bought a new position in shares of Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 226,000 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $16,539,000. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec owned about 0.07% of Fortive at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in FTV. Dodge & Cox lifted its holdings in Fortive by 181.5% in the first quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 21,900,363 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,602,669,000 after acquiring an additional 14,120,456 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Fortive by 50.2% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 13,112,403 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $959,567,000 after acquiring an additional 4,382,242 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Fortive by 96.6% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,626,962 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $411,781,000 after acquiring an additional 2,764,432 shares during the last quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. lifted its holdings in Fortive by 20.1% in the fourth quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 4,297,573 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $322,318,000 after acquiring an additional 720,250 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Fortive by 2.8% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,067,929 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $297,691,000 after acquiring an additional 109,307 shares during the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fortive Stock Down 0.4%

NYSE:FTV traded down $0.19 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $47.82. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,948,731 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,549,641. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 1.10. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $51.97 and a 200-day moving average of $64.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. Fortive Corporation has a 52-week low of $46.34 and a 52-week high of $83.32.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The technology company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.60 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $1.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.54 billion. Fortive had a net margin of 13.62% and a return on equity of 11.96%. The business's quarterly revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.93 EPS. Fortive has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.500-2.600 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Fortive Corporation will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortive declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, May 27th that allows the company to repurchase 15,630,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Fortive Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Investors of record on Friday, September 12th will be issued a $0.06 dividend. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 12th. Fortive's dividend payout ratio is 14.41%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Fortive from $88.00 to $82.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. BNP Paribas restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Fortive in a research note on Thursday, June 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on Fortive from $58.00 to $56.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial decreased their price target on Fortive from $90.00 to $65.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. Finally, Melius Research upgraded Fortive to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $65.57.

Fortive Company Profile

Fortive Corporation designs, develops, manufactures, and services professional and engineered products, software, and services in the United States, China, and internationally. It operates in three segments: Intelligent Operating Solutions, Precision Technologies, and Advanced Healthcare Solutions. The Intelligent Operating Solutions segment provides advanced instrumentation, software, and services, including electrical test and measurement, facility and asset lifecycle software applications, and connected worker safety and compliance solutions for manufacturing, process industries, healthcare, utilities and power, communications and electronics, and other industries.