Sterling Investment Management LLC Makes New $1.15 Million Investment in Fortive Corporation $FTV

Sterling Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 20,960 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,149,000.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Fortive in the second quarter worth about $1,626,463,000. Flossbach Von Storch SE bought a new stake in Fortive during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $739,668,000. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC purchased a new position in shares of Fortive during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $527,526,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company purchased a new position in shares of Fortive during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $211,807,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Fortive by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,085,579 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $170,537,000 after acquiring an additional 102,432 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Fortive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FTV opened at $57.72 on Friday. Fortive Corporation has a twelve month low of $48.29 and a twelve month high of $64.56. The firm has a market cap of $17.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.15, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a 50 day moving average of $57.61 and a 200 day moving average of $59.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

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

Fortive Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 4th were issued a dividend of $0.07 per share. This is an increase from Fortive’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 4th. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Evercore began coverage on Fortive in a research note on Monday, September 28th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $60.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on Fortive from $63.00 to $59.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Fortive from $64.00 to $56.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 9th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Fortive from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Fortive from $68.00 to $63.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fortive presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $61.27.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 8,662 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 79,118 shares in the company, valued at $4,872,877.62. This represents a 9.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.65% of the company’s stock.

About Fortive

Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV) is a diversified industrial technology company that develops and provides connected products, software, and services for customers in healthcare, manufacturing, infrastructure, and other regulated or asset-intensive industries. Its offerings are designed to improve productivity, operating efficiency, safety, compliance, and the reliability of critical equipment and processes.

The company’s businesses have included electronic test and measurement instruments, calibration and asset-management solutions, workplace and public-safety products, industrial software, and healthcare technologies.