Fortive Corporation $FTV Shares Sold by Jane Street Group LLC

Key Points

• Jane Street Group LLC has reduced its stake in Fortive Corporation by 13%, now holding 132,869 shares worth approximately $9.72 million.
• Fortive Corporation recently reported earnings per share (EPS) of $0.58 for the last quarter, missing estimates, with a revenue of $1.52 billion.
• The company has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.06 and initiated a stock buyback plan for repurchasing up to 15.63 million shares.

Jane Street Group LLC reduced its stake in Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV - Free Report) by 13.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 132,869 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 19,848 shares during the quarter. Jane Street Group LLC's holdings in Fortive were worth $9,723,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in FTV. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in shares of Fortive by 97.1% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 5,706 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $428,000 after acquiring an additional 2,811 shares in the last quarter. AXA S.A. lifted its position in shares of Fortive by 11.3% in the fourth quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 39,957 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,997,000 after acquiring an additional 4,041 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Fortive by 77.9% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 550,369 shares of the technology company's stock worth $41,278,000 after purchasing an additional 240,976 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in shares of Fortive by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 549,429 shares of the technology company's stock worth $41,207,000 after purchasing an additional 15,305 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Fortive by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 42,281 shares of the technology company's stock worth $3,171,000 after purchasing an additional 1,372 shares during the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Fortive Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of FTV traded up $0.17 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $47.75. 1,855,365 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,351,273. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $50.12 and a 200-day moving average price of $64.23. The company has a market cap of $16.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.10. Fortive Corporation has a 1-year low of $46.34 and a 1-year high of $83.32. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The technology company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.60 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $1.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.54 billion. Fortive had a net margin of 13.62% and a return on equity of 11.96%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.93 EPS. Fortive has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.500-2.600 EPS. Research analysts expect that Fortive Corporation will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortive Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Investors of record on Friday, September 12th will be issued a $0.06 dividend. 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 payout ratio is currently 14.41%.

Fortive announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Tuesday, May 27th that authorizes the company to buyback 15,630,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FTV has been the topic of several analyst reports. Truist Financial restated a "hold" rating and set a $55.00 price objective (down previously from $60.00) on shares of Fortive in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Mizuho decreased their price objective on Fortive from $85.00 to $65.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. TD Cowen cut Fortive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $85.00 to $50.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Barclays set a $54.00 price objective on Fortive and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, Cowen cut Fortive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $62.79.

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.