Banque Pictet & Cie SA Decreases Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Banque Pictet & Cie SA trimmed its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,382 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 358 shares during the period. Banque Pictet & Cie SA’s holdings in Danaher were worth $4,449,000 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 the stock. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Danaher by 15.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,617,424 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,566,116,000 after purchasing an additional 3,217,631 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in Danaher by 3.0% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,097,986 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,417,342,000 after purchasing an additional 148,251 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 2.6% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,552,640 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,265,725,000 after buying an additional 116,299 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 17.6% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,582,982 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $996,141,000 after buying an additional 535,254 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 1,715,826 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $382,936,000 after buying an additional 9,942 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of Danaher 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 11.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of DHR opened at $206.66 on Friday. Danaher Co. has a 1-year low of $196.80 and a 1-year high of $281.70. The stock has a market cap of $149.26 billion, a PE ratio of 39.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.83. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $230.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $249.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.05.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.09 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.67 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th were issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.45%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on DHR shares. Bank of America raised shares of Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Danaher from $309.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target 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. Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.00.

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.