Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Sells 51,745 Shares of Fortive Corporation $FTV

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise lowered its holdings in Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV) by 53.8% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 44,385 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 51,745 shares during the period. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise’s holdings in Fortive were worth $2,454,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. DV Equities LLC bought a new position in shares of Fortive in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Root Financial Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Fortive by 43.6% in the 4th quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 553 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 357 shares during the period. Dorato Capital Management bought a new position in Fortive during the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings in Fortive by 149.3% during the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 845 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 506 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortive

In other news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 47,557 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 4th. The stock was 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. This represents a 35.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.65% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Fortive Stock Up 2.1%

Fortive stock opened at $61.67 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $60.33 and a 200-day moving average of $57.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Fortive Corporation has a twelve month low of $46.34 and a twelve month high of $71.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.80 billion, a PE ratio of 36.93 and a beta of 1.06.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The technology company reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2.14 billion for 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 firm’s revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.85 EPS. Fortive has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.900-3.000 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Fortive Corporation will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortive declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Monday, May 4th that permits the company to buyback 20,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 22nd will be issued a $0.06 dividend. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 22nd. Fortive’s payout ratio is 14.37%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FTV has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Fortive in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Argus raised shares of Fortive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $68.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, May 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Fortive from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Zacks Research lowered Fortive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Fortive from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Fortive currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $61.62.

Fortive 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.