Fortive Corporation $FTV Shares Acquired by KBC Group NV

KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV) by 1,081.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 977,590 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 894,856 shares during the period. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Fortive were worth $54,041,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of FTV. Pacific Capital Partners Ltd purchased a new position in Fortive during the fourth quarter worth about $1,794,000. Aberdeen Group plc grew its stake in shares of Fortive by 12.0% in the 4th quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 353,520 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $19,518,000 after buying an additional 37,828 shares during the period. Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Fortive during the 4th quarter worth approximately $20,387,000. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of Fortive by 116.7% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 174,386 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $9,628,000 after buying an additional 93,896 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ABN Amro Investment Solutions purchased a new stake in shares of Fortive during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,229,000. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortive

In related news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 47,557 shares of the company’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 sale, the senior vice president directly owned 87,780 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.65% of the company’s stock.

Fortive Price Performance

FTV stock opened at $61.07 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $60.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $58.37. Fortive Corporation has a 12-month low of $46.34 and a 12-month high of $64.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a market capitalization of $18.62 billion, a PE ratio of 36.57 and a beta of 1.06.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The technology company reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.06. Fortive had a return on equity of 12.66% and a net margin of 12.84%.The company had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.04 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.85 EPS. Fortive’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. Fortive has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.900-3.000 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Fortive Corporation will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Fortive announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Monday, May 4th that allows the company to repurchase 20,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 6th. Investors of record on Monday, June 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.06 per share. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 22nd. Fortive’s payout ratio is presently 14.37%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on FTV shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Fortive in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Argus raised Fortive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $68.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Fortive from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Fortive from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on Fortive from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.91.

About Fortive

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.