Fortive Corporation $FTV Shares Sold by Woodline Partners LP

Key Points

• Woodline Partners LP reduced its stake in Fortive Corporation by 27.2% in the first quarter, now holding approximately 0.24% of the company, valued at $60.3 million.
• Several research analysts have recently downgraded their price targets for Fortive, with Morgan Stanley reducing their target from $90.00 to $50.00 and Mizuho lowering it from $85.00 to $65.00.
• Fortive's quarterly dividend has been set at $0.06 per share, yielding 0.5%, while the company has also initiated a stock buyback program authorized to repurchase 15.63 million shares.

Woodline Partners LP cut its stake in Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV - Free Report) by 27.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 824,487 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 308,235 shares during the quarter. Woodline Partners LP owned approximately 0.24% of Fortive worth $60,336,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. American National Bank & Trust acquired a new position in Fortive in the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. Accent Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Fortive in the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. increased its position in Fortive by 114.2% during the first quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 377 shares of the technology company's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fortive in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Capital Analysts LLC increased its holdings in shares of Fortive by 41.0% during the 1st quarter. Capital Analysts LLC now owns 523 shares of the technology company's stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.94% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on FTV shares. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "equal weight" rating and issued a $50.00 price objective (down from $90.00) on shares of Fortive in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Fortive to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday. Melius Research upgraded shares of Fortive to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of Fortive from $85.00 to $65.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Fortive from $87.00 to $65.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $62.79.

Fortive Price Performance

FTV opened at $47.94 on Tuesday. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $49.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $63.51. Fortive Corporation has a 12-month low of $46.34 and a 12-month high of $83.32. The firm has a market cap of $16.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.60, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.10. 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 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 firm had revenue of $1.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.54 billion. Fortive had a net margin of 13.62% and a return on equity of 11.96%. The business's revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.93 earnings per share. Fortive has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.500-2.600 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Fortive Corporation will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortive Cuts Dividend

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

Fortive declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, May 27th that allows the company to repurchase 15,630,000 shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Fortive 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.

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