Fortive (NYSE:FTV) Stock Rated “Hold” in New Coverage at Evercore

Evercore began coverage on shares of Fortive (NYSE:FTV) in a report published on Monday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued a hold rating and a $60.00 price objective on the technology company’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Argus restated a “buy” rating and set a $68.00 price objective on shares of Fortive in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Truist Financial reissued a “hold” rating and set a $68.00 price target (up from $67.00) on shares of Fortive in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Fortive from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Fortive from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.82.

Fortive Price Performance

Shares of FTV opened at $54.88 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $58.50 and its 200-day moving average is $59.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.58 billion, a PE ratio of 32.48, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.05. Fortive has a fifty-two week low of $47.71 and a fifty-two week high of $64.56.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The technology company reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.07 billion. Fortive had a net margin of 12.38% and a return on equity of 15.33%. Fortive’s revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. Fortive has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.950-3.050 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Fortive will post 3.02 EPS for the current year.

Fortive Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 4th were issued a dividend of $0.07 per share. This is a boost from Fortive’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. This represents a $0.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 4th. Fortive’s payout ratio is 16.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortive

In related 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 value of $533,492.58. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 79,118 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,872,877.62. The trade was a 9.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.65% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortive

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Root Financial Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Fortive by 43.6% during the 4th quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 553 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares during the period. Arkadios Wealth Advisors raised its stake in Fortive by 2.1% in the first quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 9,047 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $500,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC raised its stake in Fortive by 20.5% in the fourth quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 1,113 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares in the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Fortive by 2.0% during the second quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,127 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $680,000 after purchasing an additional 222 shares during the period. Finally, First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. lifted its position in Fortive by 4.2% during the first quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 5,604 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $310,000 after purchasing an additional 224 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Fortive Company Profile

Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV) is a diversified industrial technology company that develops and provides connected products, software, and services for customers in healthcare, manufacturing, infrastructure, and other regulated or asset-intensive industries. Its offerings are designed to improve productivity, operating efficiency, safety, compliance, and the reliability of critical equipment and processes.

The company’s businesses have included electronic test and measurement instruments, calibration and asset-management solutions, workplace and public-safety products, industrial software, and healthcare technologies.