Auto Owners Insurance Co Purchases 235,814 Shares of Fortive Corporation $FTV

Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its position in Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV) by 5,421.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 240,164 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 235,814 shares during the period. Auto Owners Insurance Co’s holdings in Fortive were worth $1,326,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of FTV. DV Equities LLC acquired a new stake in Fortive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Root Financial Partners LLC grew its stake 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 last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in Fortive by 246.2% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 502 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 357 shares in the last quarter. Dorato Capital Management purchased a new stake in Fortive in the fourth quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in Fortive by 149.3% in the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 845 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 506 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Fortive Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of NYSE FTV opened at $61.05 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $18.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.56 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.57. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $57.32. Fortive Corporation has a 1 year low of $46.34 and a 1 year high of $71.85.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The technology company reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.06. Fortive had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 12.66%. The company had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.85 earnings per share. Fortive’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Fortive has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.900-3.000 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Fortive Corporation will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

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

Fortive announced that its board 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 repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FTV has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Fortive from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. 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 research report on Monday, May 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target 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. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Fortive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Argus raised shares of Fortive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $68.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, May 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $61.62.

Insider Transactions at Fortive

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

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.