Van Den Berg Management I Inc. Acquires Shares of 51,439 Fortive Corporation $FTV

Van Den Berg Management I Inc. acquired a new stake in Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 51,439 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,840,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Dodge & Cox boosted its stake in Fortive by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 44,157,822 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,437,953,000 after acquiring an additional 1,562,028 shares during the last quarter. Viking Global Investors LP boosted its stake in Fortive by 28.7% in the third quarter. Viking Global Investors LP now owns 20,483,680 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,003,495,000 after acquiring an additional 4,571,056 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Fortive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $491,928,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 116,939 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC boosted its stake in Fortive by 55.2% in the third quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 8,709,913 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $426,699,000 after acquiring an additional 3,096,711 shares during the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Fortive in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Zacks Research lowered shares of Fortive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Fortive from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Argus upgraded shares of Fortive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $68.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Truist Financial reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $61.00 target price (up from $56.00) on shares of Fortive in a report on Monday, May 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $61.62.

Insider Activity at Fortive

In related news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 47,557 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.81, for a total transaction of $2,891,941.17. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 87,780 shares in the company, valued at $5,337,901.80. This trade represents a 35.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.65% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Fortive Trading Up 1.9%

FTV opened at $61.44 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $60.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $57.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 0.71. The firm has a market cap of $18.73 billion, a PE ratio of 36.79 and a beta of 1.06. Fortive Corporation has a twelve month low of $46.34 and a twelve month high of $71.85.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The technology company reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.06. Fortive had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 12.66%. The business had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.85 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. Fortive has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.900-3.000 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Fortive Corporation will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Fortive Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 6th. Investors of record on Monday, June 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.06 per share. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 22nd. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.37%.

Fortive declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Monday, May 4th that allows the company to repurchase 20,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.