Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) Shares Sold by Natixis Advisors LLC

Natixis Advisors LLC decreased its position in shares of Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 19.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 603,731 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 143,345 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.08% of Danaher worth $123,765,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of DHR. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 24,958.2% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,870,847 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $383,524,000 after acquiring an additional 1,863,381 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 4,248.8% in the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 1,639,500 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $376,347,000 after buying an additional 1,601,800 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 32.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,361,183 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $1,460,215,000 after buying an additional 1,566,658 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its position in shares of Danaher by 460.6% during the 4th quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,348,544 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $309,558,000 after buying an additional 1,107,998 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at about $242,837,000. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on DHR shares. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Danaher from $230.00 to $226.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Leerink Partners raised their price target on Danaher from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group cut their price objective on Danaher from $240.00 to $225.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Wolfe Research decreased their target price on Danaher from $275.00 to $220.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $240.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $247.61.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In related news, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.74, for a total value of $245,925,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman owned 3,105,808 shares in the company, valued at approximately $611,036,665.92. This represents a 28.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 11.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Danaher Stock Down 1.3%

Shares of Danaher stock traded down $2.61 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $204.24. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,692,474 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,032,979. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $196.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $203.24. Danaher Corporation has a 1-year low of $171.00 and a 1-year high of $281.70. The company has a market cap of $146.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.16. Danaher had a net margin of 14.21% and a return on equity of 10.70%. The company had revenue of $5.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.83 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.72 EPS. Danaher's revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Danaher Corporation will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 27th were paid a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.63%. Danaher's payout ratio is 27.23%.

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.