Empirical Asset Management LLC Purchases Shares of 9,123 Fortive Corporation $FTV

Empirical Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund bought 9,123 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $557,000.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Fortive news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 8,662 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.59, for a total value of $533,492.58. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 79,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,872,877.62. This trade represents a 9.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.65% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on FTV shares. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on Fortive from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Fortive from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Truist Financial reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $68.00 price objective (up from $67.00) on shares of Fortive in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. 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 report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Fortive from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.10.

Fortive Stock Performance

NYSE:FTV opened at $59.53 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $61.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $59.30. The company has a market cap of $17.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.23 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.24. Fortive Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $46.54 and a fifty-two week high of $64.56.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The technology company reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.03. Fortive had a return on equity of 15.33% and a net margin of 12.38%.The company had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.07 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. Fortive’s quarterly revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. Fortive has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.950-3.050 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Fortive Corporation will post 3.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortive declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Monday, May 4th that permits the company to repurchase 20,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.06 per share. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 22nd. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 14.20%.

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.