Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Sold by Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C.

Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. cut its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 34.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 437,275 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 227,805 shares during the quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. owned approximately 0.06% of Danaher worth $100,376,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at $2,130,740,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth about $391,172,000. Capital World Investors grew 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 acquiring an additional 1,566,658 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of Danaher by 6,862.7% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 929,868 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $213,452,000 after purchasing an additional 916,513 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC raised its holdings in Danaher by 31.8% in the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 3,105,388 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $712,842,000 after purchasing an additional 749,136 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other 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 value of $1,277,541.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of DHR stock opened at $192.06 on Wednesday. The firm's 50-day moving average is $201.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $225.77. Danaher Co. has a 12 month low of $171.00 and a 12 month high of $281.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The company has a market capitalization of $137.27 billion, a PE ratio of 36.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86.

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

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be issued a $0.32 dividend. This is a positive change from Danaher's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. Danaher's payout ratio is 24.24%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DHR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays raised their price objective on Danaher from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday. Raymond James reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Danaher from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $260.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $277.00 target price (down previously from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $260.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $271.55.

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.

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