Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) is Ecofi Investissements SA’s 10th Largest Position

Ecofi Investissements SA reduced its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 36,500 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 1,000 shares during the period. Danaher comprises approximately 4.8% of Ecofi Investissements SA’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Ecofi Investissements SA’s holdings in Danaher were worth $7,763,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Danaher by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,750,122 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $13,715,641,000 after buying an additional 315,912 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Danaher by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,358,206 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,056,996,000 after acquiring an additional 315,446 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,130,740,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Danaher by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,589,019 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,971,609,000 after purchasing an additional 441,012 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Danaher by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,578,945 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,051,097,000 after buying an additional 26,305 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on DHR shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Barclays upgraded shares of Danaher from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $240.00 to $205.00 in a report on Thursday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $277.00 target price (down previously from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, April 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $274.55.

Danaher Price Performance

NYSE DHR opened at $186.71 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $201.99 and its two-hundred day moving average 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. 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. Danaher Co. has a 12 month low of $171.00 and a 12 month high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.09 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.69%. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.24%.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

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.