Fortive Corporation $FTV Shares Purchased by Groupe la Francaise

Key Points

• Groupe la Francaise increased its stake in Fortive Corporation by 14%, holding a total of 90,102 shares valued at approximately $6.7 million.
• Analyst ratings for Fortive display a mixed outlook, with five analysts rating it as a Buy and thirteen as a Hold, with a consensus price target of $65.57.
• Fortive recently reported earnings per share of $0.58, missing estimates, and is projecting a fiscal year 2025 EPS guidance of 2.500-2.600.

Groupe la Francaise boosted its stake in shares of Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV - Free Report) by 14.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 90,102 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 11,051 shares during the period. Groupe la Francaise's holdings in Fortive were worth $6,721,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Fortive by 50.2% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 13,112,403 shares of the technology company's stock worth $959,567,000 after purchasing an additional 4,382,242 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 2,764,432 shares during the last quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 720,250 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Fortive by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,067,929 shares of the technology company's stock worth $297,691,000 after purchasing an additional 109,307 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position 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 last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.94% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Fortive from $87.00 to $65.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Melius Research raised shares of Fortive to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Truist Financial reaffirmed a "hold" rating and issued a $55.00 price objective (down previously from $60.00) on shares of Fortive in a report on Thursday, July 31st. BNP Paribas reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Fortive in a report on Thursday, June 12th. Finally, Melius cut shares of Fortive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $62.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $65.57.

Fortive Trading Down 1.5%

FTV stock traded down $0.75 during trading on Thursday, reaching $47.82. 1,699,059 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,350,069. 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 21.55, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 1.08. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $52.85 and a 200-day moving average price of $65.60. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The technology company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.60 by ($0.02). Fortive had a net margin of 13.62% and a return on equity of 11.96%. The company had revenue of $1.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.93 earnings per share. Fortive's revenue 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 announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, May 27th that authorizes the company to buyback 15,630,000 shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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 is Friday, September 12th. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Fortive's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.01%.

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.