Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Bought by Natixis Advisors L.P.

Natixis Advisors L.P. increased its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 4.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 610,312 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 26,147 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors L.P.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $141,188,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of DHR. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in Danaher in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new position in Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Financial Connections Group Inc. acquired a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Performance

NYSE:DHR traded down $1.55 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $245.34. The stock had a trading volume of 950,208 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,758,141. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $248.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $231.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 1.85. The stock has a market cap of $181.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.85, a PEG ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a twelve month low of $182.09 and a twelve month high of $259.00.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.20. Danaher had a net margin of 16.78% and a return on equity of 11.43%. The business had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.62 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.36 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th were paid a $0.27 dividend. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Danaher’s payout ratio is currently 18.31%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on DHR. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. KeyCorp upped their price target on Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $259.00 to $271.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $267.31.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Danaher news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total transaction of $636,280.74. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,029,891.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total value of $636,280.74. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,029,891.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total transaction of $816,724.48. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 19,726 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,898,360.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 106,565 shares of company stock valued at $26,641,364. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Danaher

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.