Mirova US LLC Has $316.14 Million Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Mirova US LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,377,202 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 41,191 shares during the quarter. Danaher comprises about 3.8% of Mirova US LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Mirova US LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $316,137,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of DHR. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Danaher by 15.8% in the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at $391,172,000. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of Danaher by 6,862.7% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 929,868 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $213,452,000 after purchasing an additional 916,513 shares during the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Danaher by 31.8% in the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 3,105,388 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $712,842,000 after purchasing an additional 749,136 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Danaher by 29,287.7% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 588,929 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $135,189,000 after purchasing an additional 586,925 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $250.00 price target on Danaher in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Guggenheim initiated coverage on Danaher in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $275.00 price target for the company. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 14th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $277.76.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, 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 through this hyperlink. 11.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Danaher Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE DHR opened at $212.78 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $152.08 billion, a PE ratio of 40.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. Danaher Co. has a 12-month low of $196.80 and a 12-month high of $281.70. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $219.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $240.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.14. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.09 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. 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 0.60%. Danaher’s payout ratio is presently 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.