Mar Vista Investment Partners LLC Sells 4,511 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Mar Vista Investment Partners LLC reduced its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 3.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 145,322 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 4,511 shares during the period. Danaher comprises approximately 2.3% of Mar Vista Investment Partners LLC's holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Mar Vista Investment Partners LLC's holdings in Danaher were worth $33,359,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in DHR. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 63.3% during the fourth quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 11.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on DHR shares. Barclays raised their price target on Danaher from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Danaher from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $260.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $277.00 price objective (down previously from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup restated a "buy" rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Danaher from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $260.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Danaher has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $271.55.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE DHR opened at $192.06 on Wednesday. The firm's fifty day moving average is $201.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $225.77. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $171.00 and a 52-week high of $281.70. The company has a market cap of $137.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $5.74 billion during 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, analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. This is a boost 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 is currently 24.24%.

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.

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