Fortive (NYSE:FTV) Stock Price Down 9.1% – Should You Sell?

Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV)’s stock price was down 9.1% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $58.82 and last traded at $58.2770. Approximately 4,240,369 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 24% from the average session volume of 3,409,522 shares. The stock had previously closed at $64.09.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FTV has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Fortive from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Fortive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on Fortive from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Fortive from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Fortive from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.10.

Fortive Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $17.69 billion, a PE ratio of 34.61 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 0.57. The business’s fifty day moving average is $61.00 and its 200-day moving average is $58.71.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The technology company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.03. Fortive had a net margin of 12.38% and a return on equity of 15.33%. The firm had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.07 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.90 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. Fortive has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.950-3.050 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Fortive Corporation will post 2.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 22nd were given a $0.06 dividend. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 22nd. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 14.37%.

Fortive announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Monday, May 4th that permits the company to repurchase 20,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits 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 stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Fortive

In other news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 47,557 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 owned 87,780 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,337,901.80. This represents a 35.14% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.65% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortive

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of FTV. Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. bought a new position in shares of Fortive in the fourth quarter worth $20,387,000. Aberdeen Group plc increased its position in shares of Fortive by 12.0% during the fourth 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. ABN Amro Investment Solutions purchased a new stake in shares of Fortive in the fourth quarter worth about $1,229,000. WINTON GROUP Ltd bought a new position in shares of Fortive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $6,729,000. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its stake in Fortive by 15.5% during the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 866,277 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $47,827,000 after acquiring an additional 116,257 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

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.