Sterling Capital Management LLC Cuts Holdings in Fortive Corporation $FTV

Sterling Capital Management LLC trimmed its position in Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV) by 43.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,699 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 8,109 shares during the period. Sterling Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Fortive were worth $591,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dodge & Cox lifted its holdings in Fortive by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 44,157,822 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,437,953,000 after acquiring an additional 1,562,028 shares during the period. Viking Global Investors LP lifted its stake in shares of Fortive by 28.7% during the 3rd quarter. Viking Global Investors LP now owns 20,483,680 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,003,495,000 after buying an additional 4,571,056 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $1,106,760,000 after acquiring an additional 4,532,031 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Fortive in the 4th quarter worth about $491,928,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 116,939 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Fortive Trading Up 1.5%

NYSE FTV opened at $62.70 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $19.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.55 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Fortive Corporation has a 12 month low of $46.34 and a 12 month high of $63.40. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $60.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $57.81.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The technology company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 previous year, the company earned $0.85 earnings per share. Fortive has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.900-3.000 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Fortive Corporation will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 6th. Investors of record on Monday, June 22nd will be issued a $0.06 dividend. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 22nd. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.37%.

Fortive declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Monday, May 4th that allows the company to repurchase 20,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on FTV. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Fortive from $61.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Argus raised shares of Fortive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $68.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on Fortive from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Fortive in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Fortive from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with 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 company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $61.83.

Insider Activity at Fortive

In other news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 47,557 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.81, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 35.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.65% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.