Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Stock Position Decreased by Candriam S.C.A.

Candriam S.C.A. decreased its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 348,886 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 3,381 shares during the period. Candriam S.C.A.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $80,087,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in DHR. Howard Capital Management Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,229 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $342,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. United Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Danaher during the 3rd quarter valued at about $230,000. Balentine LLC acquired a new position in shares of Danaher during the 3rd quarter valued at about $420,000. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc now owns 4,660 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,296,000 after acquiring an additional 223 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northstar Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Northstar Asset Management Inc. now owns 34,654 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $9,635,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on DHR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $277.00 target price (down previously from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $250.00 price objective on Danaher in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Bank of America raised Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was 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 trade represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Trading Up 2.5 %

Shares of DHR opened at $210.97 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $223.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $243.63. 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 Co. has a 52-week low of $196.80 and a 52-week high of $281.70. The company has a market cap of $150.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.96, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.09 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a $0.32 dividend. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.61%. Danaher’s payout ratio is presently 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.