Natixis Advisors LLC Acquires 168,917 Shares of Fortive Corporation $FTV

Key Points

• Natixis Advisors LLC increased its Fortive stake by 76.6% in the fourth quarter, adding 168,917 shares and bringing its total holdings to 389,367 shares worth about $21.5 million.
• Fortive’s latest earnings beat expectations, with quarterly EPS of $0.70 versus the $0.64 consensus and revenue of $2.14 billion, up 7.7% year over year.
• The company also announced a 20 million-share buyback program, while Wall Street remains cautious overall with an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.62.

Natixis Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV - Free Report) by 76.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 389,367 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 168,917 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC owned about 0.12% of Fortive worth $21,497,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Root Financial Partners LLC grew its position in Fortive by 43.6% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board grew its holdings in shares of Fortive by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 15,711 shares of the technology company's stock worth $867,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. MUFG Securities EMEA plc grew its holdings in shares of Fortive by 101.1% in the fourth quarter. MUFG Securities EMEA plc now owns 13,021 shares of the technology company's stock worth $719,000 after purchasing an additional 6,545 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in shares of Fortive by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 550,918 shares of the technology company's stock worth $30,416,000 after purchasing an additional 10,104 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Forsta AP Fonden grew its holdings in shares of Fortive by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 65,700 shares of the technology company's stock worth $3,627,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on FTV shares. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Fortive in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada raised 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. Zacks Research cut shares of Fortive from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. 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 report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Fortive from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Fortive currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $61.62.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 47,557 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction on Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.81, for a total value of $2,891,941.17. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 87,780 shares in the company, valued at $5,337,901.80. The trade was a 35.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.65% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Fortive Stock Performance

NYSE:FTV opened at $61.30 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $18.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.06. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $59.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.71. Fortive Corporation has a twelve month low of $46.34 and a twelve month high of $73.77. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The technology company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.04 billion. Fortive had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 12.66%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.85 earnings per share. Fortive has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.900-3.000 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Fortive Corporation will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

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

About Fortive

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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