BDF Gestion Trims Stock Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

BDF Gestion decreased its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 11.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 19,091 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 2,481 shares during the quarter. BDF Gestion’s holdings in Danaher were worth $4,382,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC increased its position in Danaher by 15.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,617,424 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,566,116,000 after buying an additional 3,217,631 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Danaher by 17.6% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,582,982 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $996,141,000 after purchasing an additional 535,254 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Danaher by 40,196.5% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 429,964 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $119,539,000 after purchasing an additional 428,897 shares during the last quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. increased its stake in Danaher by 30.4% in the third quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 1,705,884 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $465,617,000 after purchasing an additional 397,671 shares during the period. Finally, Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at about $74,551,000. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Danaher Stock Performance

NYSE DHR opened at $223.12 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $223.00 and a fifty-two week high of $281.70. The business has a fifty day moving average of $236.09 and a 200-day moving average of $253.66. The stock has a market cap of $161.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.43 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14. Danaher had a net margin of 16.39% and a return on equity of 10.62%. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.09 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.61%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DHR has been the topic of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Danaher from $333.00 to $311.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wolfe Research upgraded Danaher from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 14th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Danaher from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $282.48.

About Danaher

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.