Swedbank AB Grows Holdings in Fortive Corporation $FTV

Swedbank AB grew its position in shares of Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV) by 10.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 87,200 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 8,156 shares during the period. Swedbank AB’s holdings in Fortive were worth $4,546,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of FTV. Dodge & Cox boosted its position 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 valued at $1,602,669,000 after acquiring an additional 14,120,456 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Fortive by 50.2% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 13,112,403 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $959,567,000 after acquiring an additional 4,382,242 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Fortive by 96.6% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,626,962 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $411,781,000 after acquiring an additional 2,764,432 shares in the last quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. raised its stake in Fortive by 4.9% in the first quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 4,509,598 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $330,012,000 after buying an additional 212,025 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Fortive by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,067,929 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $297,691,000 after acquiring an additional 109,307 shares in the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Fortive Trading Down 0.4%

FTV stock opened at $48.62 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $16.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.90, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.10. Fortive Corporation has a 12-month low of $46.34 and a 12-month high of $83.32. The business’s 50-day moving average is $48.76 and its 200 day moving average is $61.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

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

Fortive announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, May 27th that allows the company to buyback 15,630,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Fortive Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Investors of record on Friday, September 12th will be issued a $0.06 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 12th. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on FTV. Melius downgraded shares of Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $62.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Barclays set a $54.00 price target on Fortive and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Fortive from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 15th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Fortive from $85.00 to $65.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Melius Research upgraded shares of Fortive to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Fortive currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.79.

About Fortive

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.