Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Has $695,000 Stake in Fortive Corporation $FTV

Key Points

• Janney Montgomery Scott LLC cut its Fortive stake sharply in the first quarter, selling 21,344 shares and reducing its holdings by 62.9% to 12,568 shares valued at about $695,000.
• Fortive reported solid quarterly results, posting EPS of $0.70, above Wall Street expectations, while revenue rose 7.7% year over year to $2.14 billion.
• The company is returning capital to shareholders through a quarterly dividend and a newly authorized 20 million-share buyback program, though analysts currently rate the stock a consensus “Hold.”

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lowered its holdings in Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV - Free Report) by 62.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,568 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 21,344 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC's holdings in Fortive were worth $695,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. DV Equities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fortive during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Root Financial Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Fortive by 43.6% in the 4th quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 553 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Fortive by 246.2% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 502 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 357 shares during the last quarter. Dorato Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of Fortive in the fourth quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fortive Stock Performance

FTV opened at $60.66 on Wednesday. Fortive Corporation has a 12-month low of $46.34 and a 12-month high of $64.33. The stock has a market cap of $18.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.32 and a beta of 1.06. The business has a 50 day moving average of $60.61 and a 200-day moving average of $58.20. The company has a quick ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The technology company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.06. Fortive had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 12.66%. The company had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.85 EPS. 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. On average, equities research analysts expect that Fortive Corporation will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 22nd were given a $0.06 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 22nd. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Fortive's dividend payout ratio is presently 14.37%.

Fortive declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Monday, May 4th that permits the company to buyback 20,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FTV has been the subject of several recent research reports. Citigroup increased their price target on Fortive from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on Fortive from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Argus upgraded Fortive from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $68.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Zacks Research downgraded Fortive from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Fortive in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $62.91.

Insider Activity at Fortive

In other news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 47,557 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.81, for a total transaction of $2,891,941.17. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 87,780 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,337,901.80. This trade represents a 35.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.65% of the company's stock.

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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