Geode Capital Management LLC Increases Stock Position in Fortive Corporation $FTV

Key Points

• Geode Capital Management increased its Fortive stake by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, bringing its holdings to 8.79 million shares valued at about $483.3 million.
• Fortive reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings of $0.70 per share, while revenue rose 7.7% year over year to $2.14 billion. The company also raised FY 2026 guidance to 2.90-3.00 EPS.
• The board approved a share repurchase program allowing the company to buy back up to 20 million shares, even as analyst sentiment remains mixed with a consensus rating of Hold.

Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV - Free Report) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,787,747 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 116,939 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC owned 2.77% of Fortive worth $483,327,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 last quarter. Dorato Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of Fortive during the fourth quarter worth approximately $45,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its position in shares of Fortive by 149.3% during 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 during the last quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Fortive by 8,300.0% during the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 1,008 shares of the technology company's stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 996 shares during the period. Finally, Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Fortive during the fourth quarter worth $49,000. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Fortive news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 47,557 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.81, for a total value of $2,891,941.17. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 87,780 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,337,901.80. This trade represents a 35.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.65% of the company's stock.

Fortive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FTV opened at $58.19 on Monday. Fortive Corporation has a 1-year low of $46.34 and a 1-year high of $73.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.57. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $58.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $56.44. The company has a market cap of $17.74 billion, a PE ratio of 34.84, a P/E/G ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.06.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The technology company reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.06. Fortive had a return on equity of 12.66% and a net margin of 12.84%.The company had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.85 earnings per share. Fortive's quarterly revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Fortive has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.900-3.000 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Fortive Corporation will post 2.96 EPS for the current year.

Fortive announced that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Monday, May 4th that allows the company to repurchase 20,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FTV has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Fortive from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 18th. Robert W. Baird set a $65.00 price target on Fortive in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Fortive from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Fortive in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Fortive from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $61.54.

Fortive Company 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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