Peter Underwood Sells 47,557 Shares of Fortive (NYSE:FTV) Stock

Key Points

• SVP Peter Underwood sold 47,557 shares at an average price of $60.81 for about $2.89M, trimming his stake by 35.14% to 87,780 shares (valued ≈ $5.34M), per an SEC filing.
• The Board approved a share repurchase program of up to 20,000,000 shares on May 4, a move typically interpreted as management signaling the stock may be undervalued.
• Fortive beat Q1 estimates with $0.70 EPS vs. $0.64 consensus and $2.14B revenue (up 7.7% YoY), and set FY2026 guidance of 2.900–3.000 EPS.

Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV - Get Free Report) SVP Peter 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 87,780 shares of the company's stock, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Fortive Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of FTV stock traded down $0.09 on Wednesday, hitting $60.60. The stock had a trading volume of 4,219,445 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,697,489. The company has a quick ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $57.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $55.23. The company has a market cap of $18.47 billion, a PE ratio of 36.29, a P/E/G ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 1.09. Fortive Corporation has a one year low of $46.34 and a one year high of $74.67.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. Fortive had a return on equity of 12.66% and a net margin of 12.84%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.85 earnings per share. Fortive has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.900-3.000 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Fortive Corporation will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 27th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th were issued a $0.06 dividend. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 13th. Fortive's payout ratio is presently 14.37%.

Fortive declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Monday, May 4th that permits the company to repurchase 20,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortive

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. DV Equities LLC purchased a new stake in Fortive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position 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. Root Financial Partners LLC boosted its position in Fortive by 43.6% in the 4th quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 553 shares of the technology company's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. Main Street Group LTD purchased a new position in shares of Fortive during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Quent Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Fortive during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.94% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on FTV shares. Robert W. Baird set a $65.00 target price on shares of Fortive in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted 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. Citigroup boosted 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. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Fortive from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Fortive from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $60.92.

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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