Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Invests $884,000 in Fortive Corporation $FTV

Key Points

• Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in Fortive during the first quarter, acquiring 16,000 shares valued at about $884,000.
• Fortive recently reported better-than-expected earnings, posting $0.70 EPS versus $0.64 expected, while revenue rose 7.7% year over year to $2.14 billion.
• The company’s board approved a 20 million-share buyback and also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.06 per share, payable July 6.

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in shares of Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 16,000 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $884,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of FTV. DV Equities LLC bought a new stake in Fortive during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Root Financial Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Fortive by 43.6% during the 4th quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 553 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Fortive by 246.2% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 502 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 357 shares in the last quarter. Dorato Capital Management bought a new position in shares of Fortive during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in Fortive by 149.3% in the 4th 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 hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Fortive Trading Up 0.1%

Fortive stock opened at $62.70 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $19.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.55 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.57. Fortive Corporation has a 1 year low of $46.34 and a 1 year high of $63.40. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $60.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $57.87.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The technology company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. Fortive had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 12.66%. Fortive's revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.85 earnings per share. Fortive has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.900-3.000 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Fortive Corporation will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortive announced that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Monday, May 4th that permits the company to repurchase 20,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.06 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 22nd. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Fortive's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortive

In other news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 47,557 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the senior vice president directly owned 87,780 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,337,901.80. The trade was a 35.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.65% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on FTV shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Fortive from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Fortive from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Argus upgraded shares of Fortive from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $68.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Fortive from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Fortive from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fortive currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $61.83.

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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