Norges Bank Invests $491.93 Million in Fortive Corporation $FTV

Key Points

• Norges Bank disclosed a new fourth-quarter stake in Fortive, buying 8.91 million shares valued at about $491.9 million, or 2.81% of the company.
• Fortive reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $0.70 beating estimates and revenue of $2.14 billion, up 7.7% year over year; the company also raised FY2026 guidance to 2.90-3.00 EPS.
• The company’s board authorized a 20 million-share buyback, while analysts remain cautious overall with a consensus Hold rating and an average price target of $61.54.

Norges Bank acquired a new position in Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 8,910,119 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $491,928,000. Norges Bank owned 2.81% of Fortive at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. acquired a new stake in Fortive during the fourth quarter worth about $20,387,000. Rothschild Investment LLC grew its holdings in Fortive by 20.5% during the fourth quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 1,113 shares of the technology company's stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 189 shares during the period. SBI Okasan Asset Management Co.Ltd. acquired a new stake in Fortive during the fourth quarter worth about $460,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Fortive by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,787,747 shares of the technology company's stock worth $483,327,000 after acquiring an additional 116,939 shares during the period. Finally, Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Fortive during the fourth quarter valued at $49,000. 94.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fortive Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of FTV opened at $58.19 on Monday. The stock's 50 day moving average is $58.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.44. Fortive Corporation has a 12 month low of $46.34 and a 12 month high of $73.77. The firm has a market cap of $17.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.84, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The technology company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.06. Fortive had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 12.66%. The business had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.85 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Fortive has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.900-3.000 EPS. Analysts predict that Fortive Corporation will post 2.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortive announced that its Board of Directors 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 purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Argus upgraded shares of Fortive from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $68.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Robert W. Baird set a $65.00 price target on shares of Fortive in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of Fortive from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Fortive from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Fortive from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $61.54.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 47,557 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction dated 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. 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 available through this link. 0.65% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding FTV? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.