United Capital Financial Advisors LLC Invests $598,000 in Fortive Corporation $FTV

United Capital Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 9,793 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $598,000.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Fortive in the second quarter worth approximately $1,626,463,000. Flossbach Von Storch SE bought a new position in shares of Fortive during the 2nd quarter valued at $739,668,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Fortive during the 4th quarter valued at $491,928,000. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Fortive in the 2nd quarter valued at $527,526,000. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its holdings in Fortive by 102,687.8% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 7,487,060 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $413,361,000 after purchasing an additional 7,479,776 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fortive news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 8,662 shares of the firm’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 value of $533,492.58. Following the sale, the senior vice president 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 SEC, which is available through this link. 0.65% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Fortive Stock Performance

Shares of FTV opened at $58.86 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $17.78 billion, a PE ratio of 34.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.00. Fortive Corporation has a one year low of $46.54 and a one year high of $64.56. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $61.01 and its 200 day moving average price is $59.44.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The technology company reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.07 billion. Fortive had a net margin of 12.38% and a return on equity of 15.33%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.90 earnings per share. Fortive has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.950-3.050 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Fortive Corporation will post 3.02 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Fortive Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Investors of record on Friday, September 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.07 per share. This represents a $0.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. This is a positive change from Fortive’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14.20%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on FTV shares. Morgan Stanley increased their target price 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. Argus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $68.00 price target on shares of Fortive in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Fortive from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Fortive from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Truist Financial reissued 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.10.

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.