Dark Forest Capital Management LP Lowers Stock Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Dark Forest Capital Management LP lessened its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 38.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,231 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 778 shares during the quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP’s holdings in Danaher were worth $283,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of DHR. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,130,740,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $391,172,000. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 32.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,361,183 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,460,215,000 after acquiring an additional 1,566,658 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 6,862.7% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 929,868 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $213,452,000 after acquiring an additional 916,513 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 31.8% during the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 3,105,388 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $712,842,000 after acquiring an additional 749,136 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total transaction of $1,277,541.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE DHR opened at $196.01 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $200.69 and its 200 day moving average price is $223.46. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $171.00 and a 1 year high of $281.70. The company has a market capitalization of $140.28 billion, a PE ratio of 37.12, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.26. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. The firm had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.58 billion. On average, research analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th were issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 28th. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.65%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is 24.85%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DHR has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Danaher in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Raymond James restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $264.40.

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.