Pacer Advisors Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Fortive Corporation $FTV

Key Points

• Pacer Advisors sharply reduced its Fortive stake, cutting holdings by 62.8% in the fourth quarter and selling more than 2 million shares. Despite the sale, it still held about 1.2 million shares valued at roughly $66.2 million.
• Fortive’s latest earnings were solid, with Q1 EPS of $0.70 beating estimates and revenue of $2.14 billion topping expectations. The company also reaffirmed growth-focused capital returns by authorizing a 20 million-share buyback and declaring a quarterly dividend of $0.06 per share.
• Analyst sentiment remains cautious overall: Fortive has a Hold consensus rating and a consensus target price of $61.62. Shares were trading around $61.05, near the consensus target and up slightly on the day.

Pacer Advisors Inc. cut its stake in shares of Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV - Free Report) by 62.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,198,695 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 2,023,604 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. owned about 0.38% of Fortive worth $66,180,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in FTV. Brighton Jones LLC grew 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 purchasing an additional 2,811 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of Fortive by 6.9% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 6,619 shares of the technology company's stock worth $484,000 after purchasing an additional 430 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised 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 worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 357 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Fortive by 87.9% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,270 shares of the technology company's stock worth $118,000 after purchasing an additional 1,062 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in Fortive by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 80,595 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $4,201,000 after buying an additional 2,548 shares in the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 47,557 shares of Fortive 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 filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.65% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on FTV. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Fortive from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Fortive in a report on Friday, May 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Fortive from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Fortive from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on Fortive from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $61.62.

Fortive Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of NYSE FTV opened at $61.05 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $18.61 billion, a PE ratio of 36.56 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 Corporation has a 12-month low of $46.34 and a 12-month high of $71.85. The company has a 50-day moving average of $60.18 and a 200 day moving average of $57.29.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV - Get Free Report) last released 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 business had revenue of $2.14 billion for 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%. The business's revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.85 EPS. Fortive has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.900-3.000 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Fortive Corporation will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortive announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Monday, May 4th that authorizes the company to repurchase 20,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 6th. Investors of record on Monday, June 22nd will be issued a $0.06 dividend. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 22nd. Fortive's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 14.37%.

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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