Van Den Berg Management I Inc. Acquires 17,170 Shares of Fortive Corporation $FTV

Van Den Berg Management I Inc. increased its holdings in Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV) by 27.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 80,408 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,170 shares during the period. Van Den Berg Management I Inc.’s holdings in Fortive were worth $4,912,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. DV Equities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortive during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Virtus Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Fortive in the second quarter worth $30,000. Keating Financial Advisory Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Fortive during the second quarter worth $30,000. Root Financial Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Fortive by 43.6% during the fourth quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 553 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Main Street Group LTD purchased a new position in Fortive during the first quarter valued at $31,000. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on FTV shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Fortive from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Fortive from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Fortive from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Fortive from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Truist Financial reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $68.00 target price (up from $67.00) on shares of Fortive in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Fortive presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.10.

Fortive Price Performance

Fortive stock opened at $59.64 on Friday. Fortive Corporation has a 52-week low of $46.54 and a 52-week high of $64.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $61.07 and its 200 day moving average is $59.47. The company has a market cap of $18.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.29, a PEG ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.06.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The technology company reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.03. Fortive had a net margin of 12.38% and a return on equity of 15.33%. The business had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.07 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. Fortive has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.950-3.050 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Fortive Corporation will post 3.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.07 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. This is an increase from Fortive’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. This represents a $0.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. Fortive’s payout ratio is presently 14.20%.

Fortive declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Monday, May 4th that authorizes the company to repurchase 20,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fortive news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 8,662 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.59, for a total transaction of $533,492.58. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 79,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,872,877.62. The trade was a 9.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.65% of the stock is owned by 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.