Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Decreases Stock Position in Fortive Corporation $FTV

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lowered its position in Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV) by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,100 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 406 shares during the quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Fortive were worth $422,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Fortive by 7.9% in the second quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 45,523 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,373,000 after purchasing an additional 3,316 shares in the last quarter. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new position in Fortive in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,502,000. Kennebec Savings Bank grew its stake in Fortive by 7.1% in the 2nd quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank now owns 4,864 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $254,000 after buying an additional 321 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its stake in Fortive by 24.9% in the 2nd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 297,175 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $15,492,000 after buying an additional 59,264 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trust Co. of Vermont grew its position in shares of Fortive by 23.1% in the second quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 1,608 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $84,000 after purchasing an additional 302 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Fortive Price Performance

FTV stock opened at $50.43 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.82. Fortive Corporation has a one year low of $46.34 and a one year high of $83.32. The stock has a market cap of $17.06 billion, a PE ratio of 22.71, a P/E/G ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 1.15. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $48.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $59.82.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The technology company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by ($0.02). Fortive had a return on equity of 11.96% and a net margin of 13.62%.The company had revenue of $1.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.93 EPS. Fortive’s quarterly revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. Fortive has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.500-2.600 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Fortive Corporation will post 4.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 12th were issued a $0.06 dividend. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 12th. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.81%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on FTV shares. Melius cut Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $62.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Fortive from $87.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. BNP Paribas reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Fortive in a research note on Thursday, June 12th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $50.00 price objective (down previously from $90.00) on shares of Fortive in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Fortive in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fifteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.79.

Fortive Company Profile

Fortive Corporation designs, develops, manufactures, and services professional and engineered products, software, and services in the United States, China, and internationally. It operates in three segments: Intelligent Operating Solutions, Precision Technologies, and Advanced Healthcare Solutions. The Intelligent Operating Solutions segment provides advanced instrumentation, software, and services, including electrical test and measurement, facility and asset lifecycle software applications, and connected worker safety and compliance solutions for manufacturing, process industries, healthcare, utilities and power, communications and electronics, and other industries.