Fortive (NYSE:FTV) Lowered to Hold Rating by Zacks Research

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

FTV has been the subject of a number of other reports. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Fortive from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Fortive in a research report on Monday, December 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Fortive from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Robert W. Baird set a $65.00 target price on Fortive in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Fortive from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $60.00.

Fortive Trading Down 0.3%

FTV opened at $60.82 on Tuesday. Fortive has a one year low of $46.34 and a one year high of $74.67. The company has a market cap of $18.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.16, a PEG ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.71. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $57.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $54.60.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.07. Fortive had a return on equity of 11.98% and a net margin of 12.48%.The business had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.17 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. Fortive has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.900-3.000 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Fortive will post 2.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fortive news, Director Kate Mitchell sold 7,131 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.34, for a total transaction of $416,022.54. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 31,775 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,853,753.50. This trade represents a 18.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.92% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Fortive

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dodge & Cox lifted its position in Fortive by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 44,157,822 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,437,953,000 after acquiring an additional 1,562,028 shares during the period. Viking Global Investors LP lifted its position in Fortive by 28.7% during the 3rd quarter. Viking Global Investors LP now owns 20,483,680 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,003,495,000 after acquiring an additional 4,571,056 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Fortive by 29.2% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,046,352 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,106,760,000 after acquiring an additional 4,532,031 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Fortive during the 4th quarter worth approximately $491,928,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Fortive by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,787,747 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $483,327,000 after acquiring an additional 116,939 shares during the period. 94.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.