Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Stake Trimmed by Natixis

Natixis cut its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 17.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 112,880 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 23,520 shares during the quarter. Natixis’ holdings in Danaher were worth $25,912,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in DHR. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund raised its position in Danaher by 11.6% during the fourth quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 21,233 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,874,000 after buying an additional 2,202 shares during the period. ORG Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 1,212.8% in the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 2,770 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $636,000 after purchasing an additional 2,559 shares during the period. Generate Investment Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth approximately $8,044,000. Compass Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Compass Capital Management Inc. now owns 237,922 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $54,615,000 after purchasing an additional 10,994 shares during the period. Finally, Channing Global Advisors LLC grew its position in Danaher by 42.8% during the fourth quarter. Channing Global Advisors LLC now owns 5,666 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,301,000 after purchasing an additional 1,698 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total transaction of $1,277,541.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on DHR. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, April 7th. Robert W. Baird set a $231.00 target price on Danaher in a research note on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Barclays upgraded Danaher from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $240.00 to $205.00 in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Danaher presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $274.55.

Danaher Price Performance

NYSE DHR opened at $186.71 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $201.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $227.23. Danaher Co. has a twelve month low of $171.00 and a twelve month high of $281.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $133.44 billion, a PE ratio of 35.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.09 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.69%. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.24%.

Danaher Company Profile

Danaher Corporation designs, manufactures, and markets professional, medical, industrial, and commercial products and services worldwide. The Biotechnology segments offers bioprocess technologies, consumables, and services that advance, accelerate, and integrate the development and manufacture of therapeutics; cell line and cell culture media development services; cell culture media, process liquids and buffers for manufacturing, chromatography resins, filtration technologies, aseptic fill finish; single-use hardware and consumables and services, such as the design and installation of full manufacturing suites; lab filtration, separation, and purification; lab-scale protein purification and analytical tools; reagents, membranes, and services; and healthcare filtration solutions.