Janus Henderson Group PLC Raises Position in Fortive Corporation $FTV

Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV) by 51.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 73,045 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 24,683 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC’s holdings in Fortive were worth $4,038,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTV. Dodge & Cox grew its holdings in Fortive by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 44,157,822 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,437,953,000 after buying an additional 1,562,028 shares in the last quarter. Viking Global Investors LP raised its holdings in shares of Fortive by 28.7% during the 3rd 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 during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Fortive by 29.2% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,046,352 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,106,760,000 after acquiring an additional 4,532,031 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Fortive during the 4th quarter valued at about $491,928,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Fortive by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,787,747 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $483,327,000 after purchasing an additional 116,939 shares during the period. 94.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fortive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FTV opened at $61.69 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The company has a market cap of $18.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.50 and a beta of 1.06. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $61.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.91. Fortive Corporation has a 1-year low of $46.34 and a 1-year high of $64.56.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last announced 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. Fortive had a net margin of 12.38% and a return on equity of 15.33%. The company had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.07 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Fortive has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.950-3.050 EPS. Analysts forecast that Fortive Corporation will post 3.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortive announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Monday, May 4th that allows the company to buyback 20,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 6th. Investors of record on Monday, June 22nd were paid 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 14.20%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on FTV shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Fortive from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Argus upgraded Fortive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $68.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, May 11th. Citigroup raised their target price on Fortive from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Truist Financial restated a “hold” rating and issued a $68.00 target price (up from $67.00) on shares of Fortive in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Fortive from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.10.

Fortive 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.