SG Americas Securities LLC Has $20.92 Million Stake in Fortive Corporation $FTV

SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV) by 117.0% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 378,363 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 203,977 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Fortive were worth $20,916,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Fortive by 208.8% in the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 32,938 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,614,000 after purchasing an additional 22,271 shares during the period. Pacific Capital Partners Ltd acquired a new stake in Fortive during the fourth quarter worth about $1,794,000. Aberdeen Group plc grew its stake in Fortive by 12.0% during the fourth quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 353,520 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $19,518,000 after buying an additional 37,828 shares in the last quarter. ABN Amro Investment Solutions bought a new position in Fortive in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,229,000. Finally, Okabena Investment Services Inc. bought a new position in Fortive in the 3rd quarter valued at about $894,000. 94.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FTV has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Truist Financial restated a “hold” rating and set a $61.00 target price (up from $56.00) on shares of Fortive in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Fortive from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Citigroup upped their price objective on Fortive from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Zacks Research lowered Fortive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on Fortive from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.62.

Fortive Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of NYSE FTV opened at $60.35 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $60.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $57.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 0.71. Fortive Corporation has a 52-week low of $46.34 and a 52-week high of $71.85. The company has a market capitalization of $18.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.14 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 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.06. Fortive had a return on equity of 12.66% and a net margin of 12.84%.The firm had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.85 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. Fortive has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.900-3.000 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Fortive Corporation will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 6th. Investors of record on Monday, June 22nd will be given a $0.06 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 22nd. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.37%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 47,557 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 87,780 shares in the company, valued at $5,337,901.80. This trade represents a 35.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.65% of the company’s stock.

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.