Natixis Advisors LLC Trims Stock Position in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR)

Natixis Advisors LLC cut its position in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) by 19.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 603,731 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 143,345 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC owned about 0.08% of Danaher worth $123,765,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of DHR. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Danaher by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,358,206 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,056,996,000 after buying an additional 315,446 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Danaher by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,783,485 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,800,614,000 after acquiring an additional 194,466 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 14.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,934,991 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,821,477,000 after acquiring an additional 992,594 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 32.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,361,183 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,460,215,000 after acquiring an additional 1,566,658 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 5,812,728 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,334,312,000 after acquiring an additional 370,111 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on DHR. Argus decreased their price objective on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $240.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Wolfe Research lowered their price objective on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $220.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $265.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on Danaher from $240.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Danaher currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $247.61.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.74, for a total transaction of $245,925,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman directly owned 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 11.20% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Up 1.9%

Shares of Danaher stock opened at $206.83 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $196.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $203.24. Danaher Corporation has a 52-week low of $171.00 and a 52-week high of $281.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $148.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.77.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $5.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.83 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 14.21% and a return on equity of 10.70%. The company’s revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.72 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Danaher Corporation will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 27th were issued a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.62%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.23%.

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.