Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC Decreases Stake in Fortive Corporation $FTV

Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC cut its stake in shares of Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV) by 23.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 106,556 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 32,249 shares during the quarter. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC’s holdings in Fortive were worth $6,510,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of FTV. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Fortive in the second quarter valued at $1,626,463,000. Flossbach Von Storch SE acquired a new position in shares of Fortive in the second quarter valued at approximately $739,668,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Fortive in the 4th quarter valued at $491,928,000. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC purchased a new position in Fortive during the second quarter worth about $527,526,000. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Fortive by 102,687.8% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 7,487,060 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $413,361,000 after acquiring an additional 7,479,776 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Fortive Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of NYSE:FTV opened at $58.86 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $61.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $59.44. The firm has a market cap of $17.78 billion, a PE ratio of 34.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.06. Fortive Corporation has a 12-month low of $46.54 and a 12-month high of $64.56.

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

Fortive Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Investors of record on Friday, September 4th will be paid a $0.07 dividend. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. This is a positive change from Fortive’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. Fortive’s payout ratio is 14.20%.

Fortive announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Monday, May 4th that permits the company to repurchase 20,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on FTV. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Fortive from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Weiss Ratings lowered Fortive from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Fortive from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Fortive from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Argus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $68.00 price target on shares of Fortive in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.10.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fortive news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 8,662 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.59, for a total transaction of $533,492.58. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 79,118 shares in the company, valued at $4,872,877.62. This represents a 9.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.65% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.