First Manhattan CO. LLC. Reduces Holdings in Fortive Corporation $FTV

Key Points

• First Manhattan CO. LLC. sold 22,135 shares of Fortive Corporation, cutting its position by 1.6%, and now holds 1,368,940 shares valued at approximately $100 million.
• Fortive has recently experienced changes in institutional investment, with Brighton Jones LLC increasing its stake by 97.1% and Quarry LP by 229.6% in the fourth quarter of the previous year.
• The company reported earnings per share of $0.58 for the last quarter, missing the consensus estimate and revealing a slight decline in revenue year-over-year.

First Manhattan CO. LLC. lessened its stake in shares of Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV - Free Report) by 1.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,368,940 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 22,135 shares during the quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. owned about 0.40% of Fortive worth $100,179,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of FTV. Dodge & Cox lifted its position in shares of Fortive by 181.5% during the 1st quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 21,900,363 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,602,669,000 after buying an additional 14,120,456 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Fortive by 50.2% in the 1st 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 purchasing an additional 4,382,242 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Fortive by 96.6% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,626,962 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $411,781,000 after purchasing an additional 2,764,432 shares during the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC purchased a new stake in Fortive in the 4th quarter valued at $136,794,000. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in Fortive by 4,854.2% during the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,451,325 shares of the technology company's stock worth $106,208,000 after buying an additional 1,422,030 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.94% of the company's stock.

Fortive Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of Fortive stock traded up $0.22 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $47.80. 3,314,843 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,923,855. Fortive Corporation has a twelve month low of $46.34 and a twelve month high of $83.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $49.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $64.00. 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 (NYSE:FTV - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The technology company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $1.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business 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. Research analysts forecast that Fortive Corporation will post 4.05 EPS for the current year.

Fortive declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Tuesday, May 27th that authorizes the company to buyback 15,630,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Fortive Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.06 per share. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 12th. Fortive's dividend payout ratio is presently 10.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. BNP Paribas restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Fortive in a research report on Thursday, June 12th. TD Cowen cut shares of Fortive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $85.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Fortive from $58.00 to $56.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered 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. Finally, Melius cut shares of Fortive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $62.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $62.79.

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.