Point72 Asset Management L.P. Buys 1,107,998 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 460.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,348,544 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,107,998 shares during the quarter. Danaher accounts for approximately 0.7% of Point72 Asset Management L.P.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Point72 Asset Management L.P.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $309,558,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Danaher Trading Down 4.2%

Shares of NYSE:DHR opened at $188.32 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $134.77 billion, a PE ratio of 35.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.80. 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 Co. has a 12-month low of $171.00 and a 12-month high of $281.70. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $197.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $218.33.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.58 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Investors of record on Friday, June 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.85%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DHR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Danaher from $260.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Danaher from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $264.40.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In other Danaher news, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.74, for a total value of $245,925,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 3,105,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $611,036,665.92. The trade was a 28.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.00, for a total value of $3,129,390.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,179 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,005,442. This represents a 51.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.