JPMorgan Chase & Co. Sells 909,015 Shares of Fortive Corporation $FTV

JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered its stake in Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV) by 48.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 960,729 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 909,015 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in Fortive were worth $47,066,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in FTV. AIA Group Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Fortive during the third quarter worth $225,000. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd lifted its stake in Fortive by 32.3% in the third quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 84,043 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,117,000 after buying an additional 20,531 shares during the period. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. bought a new position in Fortive during the third quarter worth about $2,288,000. Danske Bank A S bought a new position in Fortive during the third quarter worth about $15,860,000. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd grew its position in shares of Fortive by 668.5% during the 3rd quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,145 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $56,000 after buying an additional 996 shares during the period. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Fortive Price Performance

NYSE FTV opened at $55.15 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.71. The stock has a market cap of $16.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.88, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.10. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $56.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $53.11. Fortive Corporation has a 52-week low of $46.34 and a 52-week high of $76.54.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.07. Fortive had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 11.98%. The company had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.09 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.17 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly 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. Analysts anticipate that Fortive Corporation will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a $0.06 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.87%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Mizuho reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $51.00 price target (down from $54.00) on shares of Fortive in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Fortive from $59.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Robert W. Baird set a $65.00 price objective on shares of Fortive in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Fortive from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Fortive from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Fortive currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.23.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fortive news, Director Kate Mitchell sold 7,131 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director owned 31,775 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,853,753.50. This represents a 18.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.92% of the company’s stock.

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.