Natixis Advisors LLC Grows Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Natixis Advisors LLC raised its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 802,429 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 39,029 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $223,091,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of DHR. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Danaher in the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $51,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. purchased a new position in Danaher in the second quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Finally, Western Pacific Wealth Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Danaher in the first quarter valued at $55,000. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In related news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.37, for a total transaction of $255,488.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,212 shares in the company, valued at $1,130,374.44. This represents a 18.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Down 3.7 %

DHR opened at $230.50 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $262.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $260.38. Danaher Co. has a 52 week low of $206.30 and a 52 week high of $281.70. The stock has a market cap of $166.49 billion, a PE ratio of 43.99, a P/E/G ratio of 4.44 and a beta of 0.85.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.59 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.62% and a net margin of 16.39%. Danaher’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.02 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 27th were paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on DHR shares. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Danaher from $270.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Leerink Partners upped their price target on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on Danaher in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $280.00 target price on the stock. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price target on Danaher from $310.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $287.16.

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.