Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Sold by Groupama Asset Managment

Groupama Asset Managment cut its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 63.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 34,908 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 60,497 shares during the quarter. Groupama Asset Managment’s holdings in Danaher were worth $8,017,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Howard Capital Management Group LLC increased its stake in Danaher by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,229 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $342,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH purchased a new stake in Danaher during the third quarter worth $5,988,000. Bamco Inc. NY increased its position in shares of Danaher by 20.9% in the third quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 72,419 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $20,134,000 after buying an additional 12,500 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 526.8% during the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 13,496 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,753,000 after buying an additional 11,343 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ascent Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 2,270 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $631,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on DHR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on Danaher in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 target price on the stock. Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $277.00 price objective (down from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.24.

Danaher Price Performance

DHR stock opened at $200.09 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $143.01 billion, a PE ratio of 37.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. 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 50-day moving average price of $213.02 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $235.39. Danaher Co. has a 12-month low of $196.80 and a 12-month high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its 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 net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.09 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.64%. Danaher’s payout ratio is presently 24.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total transaction of $1,277,541.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 11.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.