Natixis Advisors L.P. Purchases 26,147 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Natixis Advisors L.P. raised its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 4.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 610,312 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 26,147 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. owned 0.08% of Danaher worth $141,188,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in Danaher in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Finally, BluePath Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Danaher during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $44,000. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of DHR stock traded down $1.55 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $245.34. The stock had a trading volume of 950,208 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,758,141. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $248.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $231.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $181.72 billion, a PE ratio of 41.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $182.09 and a 52-week high of $259.00.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.62 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 11.43% and a net margin of 16.78%. Danaher’s quarterly revenue was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.36 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Danaher news, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total value of $816,724.48. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,726 shares in the company, valued at $4,898,360.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.01, for a total transaction of $1,000,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 29,830 shares in the company, valued at $7,457,798.30. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total value of $816,724.48. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 19,726 shares in the company, valued at $4,898,360.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 106,565 shares of company stock worth $26,641,364 in the last three months. 11.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on DHR. TD Cowen upped 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. Robert W. Baird raised their price target 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. Bank of America lifted their target price on Danaher from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, HSBC raised Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $250.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Danaher has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $267.31.

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.