Fortive Corporation $FTV Shares Acquired by Vident Advisory LLC

Key Points

• Vident Advisory LLC has increased its holdings in Fortive Corporation by 215.5% during the first quarter, owning shares worth $1.42 million.
• Multiple analysts have downgraded their price targets for Fortive, with estimates now ranging from $50.00 to $82.00, reflecting a cautious outlook on the stock.
• Fortive recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.06 per share, marking a significant decrease in its annualized dividend payout, with a yield of 0.5%.

Vident Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV - Free Report) by 215.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 19,376 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 13,235 shares during the quarter. Vident Advisory LLC's holdings in Fortive were worth $1,418,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Dodge & Cox boosted its stake in shares of Fortive by 181.5% during the 1st quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 21,900,363 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,602,669,000 after acquiring an additional 14,120,456 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Fortive by 50.2% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 13,112,403 shares of the technology company's stock worth $959,567,000 after acquiring an additional 4,382,242 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Fortive by 96.6% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,626,962 shares of the technology company's stock worth $411,781,000 after acquiring an additional 2,764,432 shares in the last quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. raised its position in shares of Fortive by 20.1% during the 4th quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 4,297,573 shares of the technology company's stock worth $322,318,000 after purchasing an additional 720,250 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Fortive by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,067,929 shares of the technology company's stock worth $297,691,000 after purchasing an additional 109,307 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.94% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on FTV. Wall Street Zen upgraded Fortive to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday. Cowen downgraded Fortive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Mizuho cut their price objective on Fortive from $85.00 to $65.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Fortive from $72.00 to $55.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Finally, Barclays set a $54.00 price objective on Fortive and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $62.79.

Fortive Trading Up 0.5%

FTV traded up $0.22 during trading on Friday, hitting $47.80. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,314,843 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,923,855. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $49.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $63.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The stock has a market cap of $16.17 billion, a PE ratio of 21.53, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.10. Fortive Corporation has a twelve month low of $46.34 and a twelve month high of $83.32.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The technology company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.60 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $1.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.54 billion. Fortive had a net margin of 13.62% and a return on equity of 11.96%. The company's revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.93 earnings per share. Fortive has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.500-2.600 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Fortive Corporation will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortive Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 12th will be issued a $0.06 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 12th. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. Fortive's payout ratio is 14.41%.

Fortive announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, May 27th that permits the company to buyback 15,630,000 shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Fortive Company Profile

Fortive Corporation designs, develops, manufactures, and services professional and engineered products, software, and services in the United States, China, and internationally. It operates in three segments: Intelligent Operating Solutions, Precision Technologies, and Advanced Healthcare Solutions. The Intelligent Operating Solutions segment provides advanced instrumentation, software, and services, including electrical test and measurement, facility and asset lifecycle software applications, and connected worker safety and compliance solutions for manufacturing, process industries, healthcare, utilities and power, communications and electronics, and other industries.