Thematics Asset Management Raises Stock Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Thematics Asset Management raised its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 16.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 73,496 shares of the conglomerate's stock after buying an additional 10,234 shares during the period. Thematics Asset Management's holdings in Danaher were worth $16,871,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Danaher by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,750,122 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $13,715,641,000 after purchasing an additional 315,912 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Danaher by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,358,206 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $3,056,996,000 after acquiring an additional 315,446 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth $2,130,740,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,589,019 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $1,971,609,000 after acquiring an additional 441,012 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Danaher by 32.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,361,183 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $1,460,215,000 after buying an additional 1,566,658 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the business's 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DHR has been the subject of several research reports. Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Danaher in a research note on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $240.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Danaher in a research report on Wednesday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $264.40.

Danaher Stock Performance

NYSE DHR traded up $4.45 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $196.52. The company had a trading volume of 6,494,012 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,349,299. Danaher Co. has a 1-year low of $171.00 and a 1-year high of $281.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40. The company has a market cap of $140.45 billion, a PE ratio of 37.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86. The business has a 50 day moving average of $201.41 and a 200-day moving average of $225.77.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.26. The business had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.58 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.65%. This is an increase from Danaher's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. Danaher's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.85%.

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.