Wells Fargo & Company Has Lowered Expectations for Fortive (NYSE:FTV) Stock Price

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) had its target price lowered by stock analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $65.00 to $58.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “equal weight” rating on the technology company’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target suggests a potential upside of 3.44% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on FTV. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Fortive in a report on Monday, December 29th. Robert W. Baird set a $65.00 price target on Fortive in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Fortive from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Fortive from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Fortive from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $60.69.

Fortive Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of Fortive stock opened at $56.07 on Wednesday. Fortive has a 1 year low of $46.34 and a 1 year high of $74.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.71. The company has a market capitalization of $17.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.41, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 1.09. The company’s fifty day moving average is $56.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $53.54.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.07. Fortive had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 11.98%. The business had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.09 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.17 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Fortive has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.900-3.000 EPS. Analysts forecast that Fortive will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Fortive

In related news, Director Kate Mitchell sold 7,131 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.34, for a total value of $416,022.54. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 31,775 shares in the company, valued at $1,853,753.50. This trade represents a 18.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.92% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its stake in Fortive by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 2,026,810 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $112,066,000 after purchasing an additional 133,447 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Fortive by 18.9% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 100,786 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,566,000 after purchasing an additional 16,033 shares during the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co increased its position in shares of Fortive by 5,421.0% in the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 240,164 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,326,000 after buying an additional 235,814 shares in the last quarter. Storen Legacy Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Fortive in the fourth quarter valued at $1,020,000. Finally, Nolet Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fortive during the 4th quarter worth $629,000. 94.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.