Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV) have earned an average rating of “Hold” from the fifteen ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $61.6154.

A number of brokerages have recently commented on FTV. Truist Financial reissued a “hold” rating and set a $61.00 price objective (up from $56.00) on shares of Fortive in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Fortive from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Fortive in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Fortive from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price 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.

Fortive Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:FTV opened at $61.70 on Friday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $18.81 billion, a PE ratio of 36.94 and a beta of 1.06. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $60.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $57.59. Fortive has a 1 year low of $46.34 and a 1 year high of $71.85.

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

Fortive Announces Dividend

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

Fortive announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Monday, May 4th that permits the company to buyback 20,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Fortive

In related news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 47,557 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 87,780 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,337,901.80. This represents a 35.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.65% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortive

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Dodge & Cox boosted its holdings in Fortive by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 44,157,822 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,437,953,000 after purchasing an additional 1,562,028 shares in the last quarter. Viking Global Investors LP boosted its holdings in Fortive by 28.7% in the third quarter. Viking Global Investors LP now owns 20,483,680 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,003,495,000 after purchasing an additional 4,571,056 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Fortive by 29.2% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,046,352 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,106,760,000 after purchasing an additional 4,532,031 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Fortive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $491,928,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Fortive by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,787,747 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $483,327,000 after purchasing an additional 116,939 shares in the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Fortive

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.