Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. Decreases Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. decreased its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 10.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 34,959 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 4,067 shares during the quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $8,025,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Danaher by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,750,122 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $13,715,641,000 after buying an additional 315,912 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth about $2,130,740,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake 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 worth $1,971,609,000 after purchasing an additional 441,012 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in Danaher by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,578,945 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,051,097,000 after purchasing an additional 26,305 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Danaher by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,066,755 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $933,524,000 after purchasing an additional 135,047 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on DHR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Citigroup decreased their target price on Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.24.

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.

Danaher Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of Danaher stock opened at $205.01 on Tuesday. Danaher Co. has a 12-month low of $196.80 and a 12-month high of $281.70. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $213.91 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $235.91. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $146.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.83, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.09 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be issued a $0.32 dividend. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is 24.24%.

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.