Cottage Street Advisors LLC Reduces Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Cottage Street Advisors LLC cut its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 12.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,011 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 140 shares during the period. Cottage Street Advisors LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $232,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new position in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC lifted 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 valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:DHR opened at $212.36 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $216.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $237.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $151.78 billion, a PE ratio of 40.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. 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 Co. has a 12 month low of $196.80 and a 12 month high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.09 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.60%. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.24%.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In related 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 value of $1,277,541.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 accessible through this link. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on DHR. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Raymond James reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup dropped their price target on Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.24.

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.