Mirova US LLC Sells 5,496 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Mirova US LLC lessened its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,181,875 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 5,496 shares during the quarter. Danaher makes up about 4.1% of Mirova US LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 11th largest position. Mirova US LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $273,415,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. bought a new stake in Danaher during the third quarter worth $25,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Danaher in the third quarter valued at $30,000. First Capital Advisors Group LLC. bought a new stake in shares of Danaher in the second quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Danaher in the third quarter valued at $34,000. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total value of $636,280.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,244 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,029,891.48. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Walter G. Lohr sold 3,289 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total value of $826,032.35. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 14,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,548,498.35. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total value of $636,280.74. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,029,891.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 32,957 shares of company stock worth $8,265,802. 10.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Danaher Price Performance

Danaher stock traded up $0.68 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $240.34. 3,225,524 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,272,667. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $182.09 and a 52-week high of $259.00. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $249.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $229.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.68. The company has a market cap of $177.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.61, a PEG ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The conglomerate reported $2.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by $0.18. Danaher had a return on equity of 12.25% and a net margin of 17.26%. The firm had revenue of $6.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.10 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.87 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.90%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DHR has been the topic of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Danaher from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 20th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. StockNews.com cut Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Barclays lifted their price target on Danaher from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Danaher from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $267.43.

Danaher Company 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.