The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Purchases Shares of 3,467,126 Fortive Corporation $FTV

Key Points

• The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company purchased 3.47 million Fortive shares worth approximately $211.8 million, representing a 1.15% stake. Institutional investors collectively own 94.94% of the company.
• Analysts maintain a generally neutral outlook, with Fortive receiving an average “Hold” rating and a consensus price target of $63.10; ratings include two Buys, eight Holds, and two Sells.
• Fortive exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, while raising its quarterly dividend from $0.06 to $0.07 and authorizing a buyback of up to 20 million shares.

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company purchased a new stake in shares of Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 3,467,126 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $211,807,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned 1.15% of Fortive as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. DV Equities LLC acquired a new stake in Fortive in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Keating Financial Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Fortive in the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Virtus Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fortive in the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in Fortive by 246.2% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC raised its holdings in Fortive by 43.6% during the 4th quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 553 shares of the technology company's stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 168 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.94% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on FTV. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Fortive from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Fortive from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Fortive from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Argus reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $68.00 price objective on shares of Fortive in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Fortive from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $63.10.

Insider Transactions at Fortive

In other Fortive news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 8,662 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.59, for a total transaction of $533,492.58. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 79,118 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,872,877.62. This trade represents a 9.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.65% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Fortive Trading Up 0.6%

NYSE:FTV opened at $60.45 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.00. Fortive Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $46.54 and a fifty-two week high of $64.56. The stock's 50-day moving average is $61.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $59.48. The stock has a market cap of $18.26 billion, a PE ratio of 35.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.06.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The technology company reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.07 billion. Fortive had a net margin of 12.38% and a return on equity of 15.33%. The firm's revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.90 earnings per share. Fortive has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.950-3.050 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Fortive Corporation will post 3.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 4th will be given a $0.07 dividend. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. This is a positive change from Fortive's previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. Fortive's payout ratio is currently 14.20%.

Fortive announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Monday, May 4th that permits the company to buyback 20,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Fortive 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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