Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Sold by Natixis

Natixis lowered its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 17.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing 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 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in DHR. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Hurley Capital LLC bought a new position in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Danaher by 63.3% in the 4th quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In other Danaher 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 value of $1,277,541.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DHR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Robert W. Baird set a $231.00 price target on shares of Danaher in a research report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, March 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Scotiabank started coverage on Danaher in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 target price for the company. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $274.55.

Danaher Stock Down 2.1 %

Danaher stock opened at $186.71 on Friday. Danaher Co. has a 52 week low of $171.00 and a 52 week high of $281.70. The stock has a market cap of $133.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.36, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $201.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $227.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.09 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

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

Danaher 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.