Fortive Corporation $FTV Shares Acquired by Fifth Third Bancorp

Key Points

• Fifth Third Bancorp significantly increased its stake in Fortive, boosting holdings by 535.7% in the first quarter to 69,042 shares valued at about $3.8 million.
• Fortive’s latest earnings topped expectations, with Q1 EPS of $0.70 versus $0.64 expected and revenue of $2.14 billion, up 7.7% year over year.
• The company recently approved a 20 million share buyback and paid a quarterly dividend of $0.06 per share, while analysts currently rate the stock a consensus "Hold" with a target price of $62.91.

Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its holdings in Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV - Free Report) by 535.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 69,042 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 58,182 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp's holdings in Fortive were worth $3,817,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. DV Equities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortive in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Root Financial Partners LLC boosted its stake in Fortive by 43.6% during the fourth quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 553 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in Fortive by 246.2% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 502 shares of the technology company's stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 357 shares during the period. Dorato Capital Management acquired a new position in Fortive during the fourth quarter worth about $45,000. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its position in Fortive by 149.3% in the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 845 shares of the technology company's stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 506 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.94% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on FTV. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Fortive from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Zacks Research lowered Fortive from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Argus raised Fortive from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $68.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, May 11th. Truist Financial increased their price target on Fortive from $61.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Fortive from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Fortive has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $62.91.

Fortive Stock Performance

FTV stock opened at $61.76 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $60.66 and a two-hundred day moving average of $58.31. Fortive Corporation has a 12 month low of $46.34 and a 12 month high of $64.33. The company has a market capitalization of $18.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.98 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a quick ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The technology company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.04 billion. Fortive had a return on equity of 12.66% and a net margin of 12.84%.The company's revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.85 earnings per share. Fortive has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.900-3.000 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Fortive Corporation will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 6th. Investors of record on Monday, June 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.06 per share. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 22nd. Fortive's payout ratio is currently 14.37%.

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

Insider Transactions at Fortive

In other news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 47,557 shares of the business'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 sale, the senior vice president directly owned 87,780 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,337,901.80. The trade was a 35.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.65% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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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