Watershed Asset Management L.L.C. Has $3.76 Million Stock Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Watershed Asset Management L.L.C. lifted its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 38.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 16,250 shares of the conglomerate's stock after purchasing an additional 4,550 shares during the period. Danaher accounts for approximately 4.4% of Watershed Asset Management L.L.C.'s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Watershed Asset Management L.L.C.'s holdings in Danaher were worth $3,759,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Banco Santander S.A. bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the 3rd quarter worth about $683,000. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. increased its stake in Danaher by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 26,611 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $6,156,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 48.1% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 296,996 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $68,707,000 after acquiring an additional 96,395 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its holdings in shares of Danaher by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 3,080 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $764,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Keybank National Association OH boosted its stake in Danaher by 0.5% during the third quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 553,155 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $137,238,000 after buying an additional 2,567 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other news, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total value of $816,724.48. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,726 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,898,360.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Danaher news, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total value of $5,986,764.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,102 shares in the company, valued at $9,601,704. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total transaction of $816,724.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,726 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,898,360.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 32,957 shares of company stock valued at $8,265,802. 10.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Danaher Trading Up 7.2 %

DHR traded up $17.03 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $253.11. The stock had a trading volume of 6,876,631 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,777,720. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $248.95 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $230.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $187.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.61, a P/E/G ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a 52 week low of $182.09 and a 52 week high of $259.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.68.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The conglomerate reported $2.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.91 by $0.18. Danaher had a return on equity of 12.25% and a net margin of 17.26%. The business had revenue of $6.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.10 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.87 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.62 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. This is a positive change from Danaher's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. Danaher's dividend payout ratio is currently 16.90%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on DHR. StockNews.com lowered shares of Danaher from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Citigroup upped their price objective on Danaher from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. KeyCorp raised their target price on Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. HSBC upgraded Danaher from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the company from $250.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price objective on Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Danaher presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $268.27.

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.

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