Raymond James Financial Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Fortive Corporation $FTV

Key Points

• Raymond James Financial Inc. reduced its stake in Fortive Corporation by 12.8%, selling 38,374 shares, and now holds approximately $19 million worth of the company.
• Several large investors have increased their holdings in Fortive, with Brighton Jones LLC's investment growing by 97.1% in the fourth quarter.
• Fortive's recent earnings report showed a miss in EPS estimates, with actual earnings at $0.58 compared to the expected $0.60, and revenue slightly declined by 0.4% year-over-year.

Raymond James Financial Inc. decreased its position in shares of Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV - Free Report) by 12.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 260,448 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 38,374 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned about 0.08% of Fortive worth $19,060,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Fortive by 96.6% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,626,962 shares of the technology company's stock worth $411,781,000 after acquiring an additional 2,764,432 shares in the last quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. lifted its stake in Fortive by 20.1% during the 4th quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 4,297,573 shares of the technology company's stock worth $322,318,000 after acquiring an additional 720,250 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Fortive by 15.5% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,958,622 shares of the technology company's stock worth $296,897,000 after purchasing an additional 532,180 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in Fortive by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,653,071 shares of the technology company's stock worth $273,980,000 after purchasing an additional 208,866 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Fortive by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,804,838 shares of the technology company's stock worth $205,226,000 after purchasing an additional 16,243 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.94% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on FTV shares. Truist Financial restated a "hold" rating and set a $55.00 price target (down previously from $60.00) on shares of Fortive in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen raised Fortive to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Fortive from $87.00 to $65.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Fortive from $88.00 to $82.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, BNP Paribas reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Fortive in a report on Thursday, June 12th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $65.57.

Fortive Price Performance

NYSE FTV traded down $0.19 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $47.82. The stock had a trading volume of 2,948,731 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,549,641. Fortive Corporation has a 52-week low of $46.34 and a 52-week high of $83.32. The company has a market cap 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. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $51.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $64.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.98 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 for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.60 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $1.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.54 billion. Fortive had a return on equity of 11.96% and a net margin of 13.62%.The business's quarterly revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.93 EPS. Fortive has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.500-2.600 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Fortive Corporation will post 4.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Cuts Dividend

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

Fortive announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Tuesday, May 27th that allows the company to repurchase 15,630,000 shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company's leadership 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.