First Nebraska Trust Co Makes New Investment in Fortive Corporation $FTV

First Nebraska Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV) during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 44,380 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,453,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Aberdeen Group plc lifted its holdings in shares of Fortive by 12.0% during the 4th quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 353,520 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $19,518,000 after purchasing an additional 37,828 shares in the last quarter. Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. bought a new stake in Fortive during the 4th quarter worth approximately $20,387,000. ABN Amro Investment Solutions acquired a new stake in Fortive during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,229,000. WINTON GROUP Ltd acquired a new stake in Fortive during the 4th quarter worth approximately $6,729,000. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its stake in Fortive by 15.5% in the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 866,277 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $47,827,000 after buying an additional 116,257 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Argus upgraded shares of 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. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Fortive from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Fortive from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on Fortive from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Fortive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.10.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Peter C. Underwood sold 47,557 shares of Fortive stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.81, for a total value of $2,891,941.17. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 87,780 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,337,901.80. The trade was a 35.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.65% of the company’s stock.

Fortive Stock Performance

Shares of FTV stock opened at $59.30 on Friday. Fortive Corporation has a 12 month low of $46.34 and a 12 month high of $64.56. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $61.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.72. The firm has a market cap of $17.91 billion, a PE ratio of 35.09 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a quick ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The technology company reported $0.74 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.07 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.90 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Fortive has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.950-3.050 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Fortive Corporation will post 3.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

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

Fortive declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Monday, May 4th that authorizes the company to buyback 20,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership 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.