Hsbc Holdings PLC Cuts Stock Position in Fortive Corporation $FTV

Hsbc Holdings PLC cut its position in shares of Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV) by 64.7% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 714,853 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,311,957 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC’s holdings in Fortive were worth $39,469,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Dodge & Cox boosted its stake in Fortive by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 44,157,822 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,437,953,000 after buying an additional 1,562,028 shares in the last quarter. Viking Global Investors LP raised its stake in shares of Fortive by 28.7% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Fortive by 29.2% in 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 last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Fortive in the 4th quarter worth approximately $491,928,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Fortive by 1.3% in 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 last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Fortive Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of Fortive stock opened at $61.07 on Tuesday. 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 $64.33. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $60.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $58.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.57 and a beta of 1.06.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The technology company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.04 billion. Fortive had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 12.66%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.85 earnings per share. Fortive has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.900-3.000 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Fortive Corporation will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Fortive declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Monday, May 4th that authorizes the company to buyback 20,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Fortive Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Fortive news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 47,557 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $5,337,901.80. This represents a 35.14% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.65% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FTV has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their target price 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. Argus upgraded shares of Fortive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $68.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Fortive from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on Fortive from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on Fortive from $61.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently 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.