Lbp Am Sa Decreases Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Lbp Am Sa reduced its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 91.6% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 11,477 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 125,245 shares during the period. Lbp Am Sa’s holdings in Danaher were worth $2,866,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Danaher by 7.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,107,030 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $15,009,928,000 after purchasing an additional 4,163,657 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Danaher by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 27,928,442 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,460,966,000 after buying an additional 2,998,161 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 10.7% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 16,757,558 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,876,694,000 after buying an additional 1,619,586 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its position in Danaher by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 15,956,519 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,691,735,000 after buying an additional 1,334,781 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,752,382,000. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on DHR shares. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Danaher in a research report on Monday, June 3rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $295.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America boosted their target price on Danaher from $270.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Danaher from $271.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Danaher from $270.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Danaher from $266.00 to $260.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $276.88.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In related news, CFO Matthew Mcgrew sold 46,377 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $253.05, for a total value of $11,735,699.85. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 29,407 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,441,441.35. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Matthew Mcgrew sold 46,377 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $253.05, for a total value of $11,735,699.85. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 29,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,441,441.35. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Rainer Blair sold 19,085 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.00, for a total value of $4,866,675.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 115,995 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,578,725. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 84,067 shares of company stock valued at $21,630,236 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of DHR traded up $3.68 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $280.76. The company had a trading volume of 2,104,677 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,911,376. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $255.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $250.20. Danaher Co. has a one year low of $182.09 and a one year high of $281.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a market capitalization of $202.77 billion, a PE ratio of 46.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.53 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.15. Danaher had a net margin of 16.94% and a return on equity of 11.06%. The firm had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.59 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.05 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 28th were given a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 28th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.38%. Danaher’s payout ratio is 18.31%.

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.