Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV) Short Interest Update

Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV) saw a significant drop in short interest in February. As of February 27th, there was short interest totaling 12,926,444 shares, a drop of 12.1% from the February 12th total of 14,698,007 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,505,390 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.7 days. Approximately 4.2% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Approximately 4.2% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,505,390 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.7 days.

Fortive Stock Performance

Fortive stock opened at $54.85 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $56.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $53.04. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. Fortive has a twelve month low of $46.34 and a twelve month high of $76.54. The company has a market capitalization of $16.88 billion, a PE ratio of 31.70, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.10.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.07. Fortive had a return on equity of 11.98% and a net margin of 12.48%.During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.17 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Fortive has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.900-3.000 EPS. Research analysts expect that Fortive will post 4.05 EPS for the current year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $0.06 per share. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.87%.

Insider Transactions at Fortive

In related news, Director Kate Mitchell sold 7,131 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.34, for a total transaction of $416,022.54. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 31,775 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,853,753.50. This trade represents a 18.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.92% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Fortive

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in Fortive by 208.8% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 32,938 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,614,000 after buying an additional 22,271 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Fortive by 14.0% in the third quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 507,055 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $24,841,000 after acquiring an additional 62,127 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of Fortive by 56.2% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 77,550 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,799,000 after acquiring an additional 27,908 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Fortive by 2.2% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 39,413,849 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,054,644,000 after acquiring an additional 839,321 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brookstone Capital Management boosted its holdings in shares of Fortive by 49.8% during the third quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 76,393 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,742,000 after purchasing an additional 25,397 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FTV has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays raised their price target on Fortive from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Fortive in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research raised shares of Fortive from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Fortive from $59.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Fortive from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $61.23.

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.