Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC Purchases New Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 8,681 shares of the conglomerate's stock, valued at approximately $1,993,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 11.6% during the fourth quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 21,233 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $4,874,000 after acquiring an additional 2,202 shares during the last quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in Danaher by 20.6% in the 4th quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 9,597 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $2,203,000 after purchasing an additional 1,639 shares in the last quarter. Generate Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth about $8,044,000. Compass Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Danaher by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Compass Capital Management Inc. now owns 237,922 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $54,615,000 after buying an additional 10,994 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Channing Global Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Danaher by 42.8% in the fourth quarter. Channing Global Advisors LLC now owns 5,666 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $1,301,000 after buying an additional 1,698 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.00, for a total transaction of $3,129,390.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,179 shares in the company, valued at $3,005,442. This trade represents a 51.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.74, for a total value of $245,925,000.00. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 3,105,808 shares in the company, valued at approximately $611,036,665.92. The trade was a 28.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 11.10% of the company's stock.

Danaher Trading Up 2.5%

DHR traded up $4.61 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $189.15. 1,887,326 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,364,316. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $171.00 and a 1 year high of $281.70. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $194.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $214.85. The firm has a market cap of $135.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.26. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. The business had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.58 billion. As a group, analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be given a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.68%. Danaher's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.85%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on DHR shares. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup restated a "buy" rating on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, April 7th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Danaher from $231.00 to $225.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Danaher from $260.00 to $230.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Danaher from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $263.24.

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.