The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Sells 77,579 Shares of Fortive Corporation $FTV

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company reduced its position in shares of Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV) by 1.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,549,292 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 77,579 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned 1.82% of Fortive worth $306,765,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of Fortive by 97.1% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 5,706 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $428,000 after purchasing an additional 2,811 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in Fortive by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 6,619 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $484,000 after buying an additional 430 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in Fortive by 246.2% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 502 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 357 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Fortive by 87.9% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,270 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $118,000 after acquiring an additional 1,062 shares during the period. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC raised its stake in Fortive by 3.3% during the second quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 80,595 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,201,000 after acquiring an additional 2,548 shares in the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fortive Stock Up 0.9%

Fortive stock opened at $62.85 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.63 and a beta of 1.06. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $60.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.57. Fortive Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $46.34 and a fifty-two week high of $64.33.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The technology company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. Fortive had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 12.66%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.85 earnings per share. Fortive has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.900-3.000 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Fortive Corporation will post 2.98 EPS for the current year.

Fortive declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Monday, May 4th that allows the company to buyback 20,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 22nd. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.37%.

Insider Transactions at Fortive

In related news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 47,557 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.81, for a total value of $2,891,941.17. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 87,780 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,337,901.80. This trade represents a 35.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on FTV shares. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on Fortive from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Argus raised Fortive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $68.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Zacks Research cut Fortive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Fortive from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Fortive from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.00.

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.