Empirical Asset Management LLC Takes Position in Fortive Corporation $FTV

Empirical Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV) during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 9,123 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $557,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. bought a new position in Fortive during the fourth quarter worth about $20,387,000. WINTON GROUP Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Fortive in the fourth quarter worth about $6,729,000. ABN Amro Investment Solutions bought a new stake in shares of Fortive in the fourth quarter worth about $1,229,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its position in shares of Fortive by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 2,026,810 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $112,066,000 after purchasing an additional 133,447 shares during the period. Finally, UBS Group AG raised its position in shares of Fortive by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 6,863,651 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $378,942,000 after purchasing an additional 632,759 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Fortive news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 8,662 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.59, for a total transaction of $533,492.58. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 79,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,872,877.62. The trade was a 9.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.65% of the company’s stock.

Fortive Stock Down 1.8%

Shares of Fortive stock opened at $59.53 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $61.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.30. Fortive Corporation has a 52-week low of $46.54 and a 52-week high of $64.56. The firm has a market cap of $17.98 billion, a PE ratio of 35.23 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.24.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The technology company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.07 billion. Fortive had a return on equity of 15.33% and a net margin of 12.38%.The business’s revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. Fortive has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.950-3.050 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Fortive Corporation will post 3.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortive announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Monday, May 4th that permits the company to repurchase 20,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 6th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 22nd. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14.20%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FTV has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Fortive from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Truist Financial restated a “hold” rating and set a $68.00 target price (up from $67.00) on shares of Fortive in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Fortive from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Zacks Research cut shares of Fortive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Fortive from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.10.

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.