CenterBook Partners LP Boosts Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

CenterBook Partners LP boosted its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 38.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,685 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,923 shares during the period. CenterBook Partners LP’s holdings in Danaher were worth $4,060,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Danaher by 17.1% in the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,401,117 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $551,177,000 after acquiring an additional 350,815 shares in the last quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P raised its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 190 shares in the last quarter. Tandem Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at $692,000. APG Asset Management N.V. boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 643.7% during the 4th quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 675,808 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $149,813,000 after buying an additional 584,942 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisory Services Network LLC grew its position in shares of Danaher by 11.1% in the 4th quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 21,108 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $4,845,000 after buying an additional 2,107 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on DHR shares. Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays decreased their price target on Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com cut Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 14th. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday. Finally, Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.24.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total transaction of $1,277,541.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Danaher Stock Up 10.0 %

NYSE DHR opened at $192.18 on Thursday. Danaher Co. has a 12 month low of $171.00 and a 12 month high of $281.70. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $204.91 and its 200 day moving average is $231.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market cap of $137.35 billion, a PE ratio of 36.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.09 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. 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.