ASO GROUP Ltd Makes New $2.32 Million Investment in Fortive Corporation $FTV

ASO GROUP Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 42,002 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,319,000. Fortive makes up about 0.9% of ASO GROUP Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dodge & Cox boosted its position in shares of Fortive by 28.4% during the third quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 42,595,794 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,086,768,000 after purchasing an additional 9,422,189 shares in the last quarter. Viking Global Investors LP boosted its position in shares of Fortive by 28.7% during the third quarter. Viking Global Investors LP now owns 20,483,680 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,003,495,000 after purchasing an additional 4,571,056 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Fortive during the fourth quarter worth $491,928,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 116,939 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC boosted its position in shares of Fortive by 55.2% during the third quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 8,709,913 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $426,699,000 after purchasing an additional 3,096,711 shares in the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Fortive Trading Down 0.4%

FTV opened at $59.82 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.82 and a beta of 1.06. Fortive Corporation has a 12 month low of $46.34 and a 12 month high of $71.85. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $59.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $57.03. 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) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The technology company reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.04 billion. Fortive had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 12.66%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.85 EPS. Fortive has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.900-3.000 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Fortive Corporation will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortive announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Monday, May 4th that allows the company to buyback 20,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Fortive news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 47,557 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.81, for a total transaction of $2,891,941.17. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 87,780 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,337,901.80. The trade was a 35.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.65% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FTV has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Fortive from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Fortive from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Fortive from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Zacks Research cut shares of Fortive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Fortive from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $61.62.

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.