Kennedy Capital Management LLC Reduces Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

by · The Markets Daily

Kennedy Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR – Free Report) by 5.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 49,349 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 2,817 shares during the period. Kennedy Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $11,328,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in DHR. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its position in Danaher by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 338,636 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $77,734,000 after acquiring an additional 3,038 shares during the period. Scotia Capital Inc. increased its holdings in Danaher by 14.5% in the 4th quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 373,940 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $85,840,000 after buying an additional 47,447 shares during the period. CenterBook Partners LP raised its position in Danaher by 38.6% during the 4th quarter. CenterBook Partners LP now owns 17,685 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $4,060,000 after buying an additional 4,923 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in Danaher by 17.1% during the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,401,117 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $551,177,000 after acquiring an additional 350,815 shares during the period. Finally, Martingale Asset Management L P increased its stake in shares of Danaher by 14.4% in the fourth quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P now owns 1,507 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $346,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total transaction of $1,277,541.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. This trade represents a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Performance

DHR opened at $180.64 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $129.11 billion, a PE ratio of 34.21, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86. 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 Co. has a twelve month low of $171.00 and a twelve month high of $281.70. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $204.24 and its 200 day moving average price is $230.46.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.09 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.71%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.24%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on DHR. Raymond James reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Guggenheim initiated coverage on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $275.00 price target on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $276.57.

Check Out Our Latest Report on Danaher

Danaher Profile

(Free Report)

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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