Fortive (NYSE:FTV) Downgraded to “Hold” Rating by Zacks Research

Zacks Research downgraded shares of Fortive (NYSE:FTV) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Fortive from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Fortive in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Robert W. Baird set a $65.00 target price on shares of Fortive in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Fortive from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their target price on Fortive from $57.00 to $56.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $60.00.

Fortive Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE FTV opened at $60.82 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $57.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $54.60. Fortive has a 52-week low of $46.34 and a 52-week high of $74.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.16, a P/E/G ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.09.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. Fortive had a return on equity of 11.98% and a net margin of 12.48%.The business’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.17 EPS. Fortive has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.900-3.000 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Fortive will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th were given a $0.06 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 13th. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.87%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Kate Mitchell sold 7,131 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.34, for a total value of $416,022.54. Following the sale, the director directly owned 31,775 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.92% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in Fortive by 97.1% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 5,706 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $428,000 after purchasing an additional 2,811 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in shares of Fortive by 6.9% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 6,619 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $484,000 after buying an additional 430 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in Fortive by 246.2% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 502 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 357 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Fortive by 87.9% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,270 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $118,000 after acquiring an additional 1,062 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Fortive by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 80,595 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,201,000 after acquiring an additional 2,548 shares during the period. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.