Cannell & Spears LLC Trims Holdings in Fortive Corporation $FTV

Key Points

• Cannell & Spears LLC trimmed its holdings by 61.0% in Fortive during Q3, selling 179,339 shares and leaving it with 114,725 shares valued at about $5.62 million.
• Director Kate Mitchell sold 7,131 Fortive shares on Feb. 18 at an average $58.34 (≈$416k), reducing her stake by 18.33% to 31,775 shares; insiders now own 0.92% of the stock.
• Wall Street consensus is a Hold with a $60.85 average price target; analysts are mixed (1 Strong Buy, 2 Buy, 10 Hold, 2 Sell) and several firms recently raised price targets.

Cannell & Spears LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV - Free Report) by 61.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 114,725 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 179,339 shares during the quarter. Cannell & Spears LLC's holdings in Fortive were worth $5,620,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Quent Capital LLC bought a new stake in Fortive during the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its position in Fortive by 46.7% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 741 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 236 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in Fortive by 246.2% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 502 shares of the technology company's stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 357 shares in the last quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp grew its stake in Fortive by 71.1% in the 3rd quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 782 shares of the technology company's stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 325 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Motco increased its position in shares of Fortive by 372.0% during the third quarter. Motco now owns 944 shares of the technology company's stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 744 shares during the period. 94.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fortive news, Director Kate Mitchell sold 7,131 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.34, for a total value of $416,022.54. Following the transaction, the director owned 31,775 shares in the company, valued at $1,853,753.50. The trade was a 18.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.92% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on FTV. Zacks Research raised shares of Fortive from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Fortive from $59.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on Fortive from $56.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Barclays upped their target price on Fortive from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $65.00 price target on Fortive in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fortive presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $60.85.

Fortive Price Performance

NYSE FTV opened at $54.23 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $16.69 billion, a PE ratio of 31.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.10. Fortive Corporation has a 52-week low of $46.34 and a 52-week high of $76.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.71. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $56.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $52.93.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.07. Fortive had a return on equity of 11.98% and a net margin of 12.48%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.17 earnings per share. Fortive has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.900-3.000 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Fortive Corporation will post 4.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.06 per share. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. Fortive's dividend payout ratio is 13.87%.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.