Eversept Partners LP Cuts Stock Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Eversept Partners LP lowered its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 42.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 22,209 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 16,220 shares during the quarter. Eversept Partners LP's holdings in Danaher were worth $5,098,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in Danaher during the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Hurley Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 63.3% in the 4th quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company's stock.

Danaher Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE DHR traded up $0.87 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $197.37. 2,608,666 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,352,398. The company has a market cap of $141.06 billion, a PE ratio of 37.38, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86. Danaher Co. has a 12 month low of $171.00 and a 12 month high of $281.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $201.01 and a 200-day moving average price of $225.07.

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

Danaher Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DHR has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Danaher from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $260.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $230.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Raymond James reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Danaher currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $264.40.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total transaction 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. This trade represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.