Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations Invests $5.50 Million in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations bought a new stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 23,972 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $5,503,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its position in shares of Danaher by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,229 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $342,000 after buying an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. increased its stake in Danaher by 3.8% during the third quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 1,646 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $458,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd raised its position in Danaher by 544.6% during the third quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 954 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $265,000 after purchasing an additional 806 shares during the period. Truvestments Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $110,000. Finally, Qsemble Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Danaher in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $555,000. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on DHR shares. Raymond James reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 14th. Barclays cut their target price on Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.24.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DHR opened at $210.15 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Danaher Co. has a 52 week low of $196.80 and a 52 week high of $281.70. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $215.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $237.56. The firm has a market cap of $150.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.14. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.09 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total transaction of $1,277,541.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 11.10% of the stock is currently 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.