B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG Grows Holdings in Fortive Corporation $FTV

Key Points

• B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG increased its stake in Fortive Corporation by 10.0% in Q1, now holding over 79,000 shares valued at approximately $5.79 million.
• Fortive reported earnings per share (EPS) of $0.58 for the last quarter, missing estimates by $0.02, and anticipates FY 2025 EPS guidance of $2.500-2.600.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.06 per share, with an annual yield of 0.5%, while also launching a share repurchase plan authorizing the buyback of 15.63 million shares.

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG grew its stake in Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV - Free Report) by 10.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 79,072 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 7,164 shares during the quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG's holdings in Fortive were worth $5,786,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Parvin Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Fortive in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. American National Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in shares of Fortive in the first quarter valued at about $26,000. Accent Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Fortive in the first quarter worth about $26,000. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Fortive by 114.2% in the first quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 377 shares of the technology company's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Fortive in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.94% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on FTV. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Fortive from $87.00 to $65.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. BNP Paribas reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Fortive in a research note on Thursday, June 12th. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Fortive from $85.00 to $65.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Fortive from $72.00 to $55.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a "hold" rating and issued a $55.00 price target (down from $60.00) on shares of Fortive in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $65.57.

Fortive Trading Down 0.4%

FTV stock traded down $0.19 during trading on Monday, reaching $47.82. 2,948,731 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,549,641. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $51.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $64.93. Fortive Corporation has a 1 year low of $46.34 and a 1 year high of $83.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.54, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 1.10.

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

Fortive Cuts Dividend

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

Fortive announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, May 27th that authorizes the company to repurchase 15,630,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

About Fortive

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.